17. There is hope for your future,says the Lord,that your children will come back to their own border.
18. I have surely heard Ephraim pleading:“You have chastised me,and I was chastised, as an untrained calf;turn me back and I will be turned,for you are the Lord my God.
19. Surely after I turned back,I repented;and after I was instructed,I struck myself on my thigh;I was ashamed and even humiliatedbecause I bore the reproach of my youth.”
20. Is Ephraim My dear son?Is he a pleasant child?For since I spoke against him,I surely do remember him still;therefore My heart longs for him.I will surely have mercy on him,says the Lord.
21. Set up road marks,place guideposts.Set your heart toward the highway,even the way by which you went.Turn back, O virgin of Israel,turn back to these your cities.
22. How long will you go about,O faithless daughter?For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth:A woman shall obtain a man.
23. Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Once again they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities when I restore their fortunes: “May the Lord bless you, O habitation of righteousness and mountain of holiness!”
24. And Judah and all its cities will dwell there, the farmer and those who go out with the flocks.
25. For I satiate the weary souls and I replenish every languishing soul.