God

Therefore, I will block her way with thorns and put up a hedge so she can't find her paths.

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them. She will seek them but won't find them. Then she will say, 'I will go and return to my first husband; because things were better for me then than they are now.'

For she doesn't know it was I who gave her the grain, the wine and the oil; I who increased her silver and gold, which they used for Ba'al.

So I will take back my grain at harvest-time and my wine in its season; I will snatch away my wool and flax, given to cover her naked body.

Now I will uncover her shame, while her lovers watch; and no one will save her from me.

I will end her happiness, her festivals, Rosh-Hodesh, and shabbats, and all her designated times.

I will ravage her vines and fig trees, of which she says, 'These are my wages that my lovers have given me.' But I will turn them into a forest, and wild animals will eat them.

I will punish her for offering incense on the feast days of the ba'alim, when she decked herself with her earrings and jewels, pursuing her lovers and forgetting me," says ADONAI.

"But now I am going to woo her - I will bring her out to the desert and I will speak to her heart.

I will give her her vineyards from there and the Akhor Valley as a gateway to hope. She will respond there as she did when young, as she did when she came up from Egypt.

"On that day," says ADONAI "you will call me Ishi [My Husband]; you will no longer call me Ba'ali [My Master].

For I will remove the names of the ba'alim from her mouth; they will never again be mentioned by name.

When that day comes, I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds in the air and the creeping things of the earth. I will break bow and sword, sweep battle from the land, and make them lie down securely.

I will betroth you to me forever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in grace and in compassion;

I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you will know ADONAI.

When that day comes, I will answer," says ADONAI "I will answer the sky, and it will answer the earth;

I will sow her for me in the land. I will have pity on Lo-Ruchamah [Unpitied]; I will say to Lo-'Ammi [Not-My-People], 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.'"

ADONAI said to me, "Go once more, and show love to [this] wife [of yours] who has been loved by her boyfriend, to this adulteress - just as ADONAI loves the people of Isra'el, even though they turn to other gods and love the raisin cakes [offered to them]."

Afterwards, the people of Isra'el will repent and seek ADONAI their God and David their king; they will come trembling to ADONAI and his goodness in the acharit-hayamim.

Hear the word of ADONAI, people of Isra'el! For ADONAI has a grievance against the inhabitants of the land: there is no truth, no faithful love or knowledge of God in the land;

Therefore you will stumble by day, and the prophet will stumble with you at night. "I will destroy your mother.

My people are destroyed for want of knowledge. Because you rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as cohen for me. Because you forgot the Torah of your God, I will also forget your children.

The more they increased in number, the more they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame.

They feed on the sin of my people and are greedy for their crimes.

But the cohen will fare no better than the people; I will punish him for his ways and pay him back for his deeds.