17. “And there is expectancy for your latter end,” declares יהוה, “and your children shall return to their own country.
18. “I have clearly heard Ephrayim lamenting, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, like an untrained calf. Turn me back, and I shall turn back, for You are יהוה my Elohim.
19. ‘For after my turning back, I repented. And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh. I was ashamed, even humiliated, for I bore the reproach of my youth.’
20. “Is Ephrayim a precious son to Me, a child of delights? For though I spoke against him, I still remembered him. That is why My affections were deeply moved for him. I have great compassion for him,” declares יהוה.
21. “Set up signposts, make landmarks; set your heart toward the highway, the way in which you went. Turn back, O maiden of Yisra’ĕl, turn back to these cities of yours!
22. “Till when would you turn here and there, O backsliding daughter? For יהוה has created what is new on earth: a woman encompasses a man!”
23. Thus said יהוה of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, “Let them once again say this word in the land of Yehuḏah and in its cities, when I turn back their captivity, ‘יהוה bless you, O home of righteousness, mountain of set-apartness!’
24. “And in Yehuḏah and all its cities farmers and those who journey with flocks, shall dwell together.
25. “For I shall fill the weary being, and I shall replenish every grieved being.”
26. At this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me.
27. “See, the days are coming,” declares יהוה, “that I shall sow the house of Yisra’ĕl and the house of Yehuḏah with the seed of man and the seed of beast.
28. “And it shall be, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict, so I shall watch over them to build and to plant,” declares יהוה.
29. “In those days they shall no longer say, ‘The fathers ate sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are blunted.’