18. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, Thou hast afflicted me, and I was chastised as an indomitable bullock: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God.
19. Surely after I was turned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.
20. Peradventure is Ephraim a precious son unto me? Peradventure is he unto me a delightful child? With all this since I spoke of him, I have remembered him constantly. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him; in tenderness I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord.
21. Establish signs, make thee high markers; consider the highway with great care, even the way which thou didst come; return, O virgin of Israel, return unto these thy cities.
22. How long wilt thou wander, O thou backsliding daughter? for the Lord will bring forth a new thing upon the earth, A woman shall compass the man.
23. Thus hath the Lord of the hosts the God of Israel said; Even yet shall they speak this word in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof when I shall turn their captivity: The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness.
24. And Judah shall dwell in her, and also in all her cities, husbandmen, and those that go forth with flocks.
25. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have filled every sorrowful soul.
26. Upon this I awoke, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me.
27. Behold, the days come, said the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.
28. And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up and to break down and to throw down and to destroy and to afflict, so will I watch over them, to build and to plant, said the Lord.
29. In those days they shall no longer say, The fathers have eaten the sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.