2. “From afar Adonai appeared to me.” “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness.
3. Again I will build you, so you will be rebuilt, virgin Israel! Again you will take up your tambourines as ornaments, and go out to dances of merrymakers.
4. Again you will plant vineyards on the hills of Samaria— planters will plant and use them.
5. For there will be a day when watchmen will call out in the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Arise, let us go up to Zion, to Adonai our God.’”
6. For thus says Adonai: “Sing aloud with joy for Jacob! Shout with the chief of the nations! Proclaim, give praise, and say: ‘Adonai, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’
7. Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and I will gather them from the ends of the earth— among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant together with she who is in labor with child. A great throng will return here.
8. With weeping and supplications they will come. I will bring them, leading them to walk by streams of water on a straight path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
9. Hear the word of Adonai, O nations, and declare it in the distant islands, and say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather and watch over him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
10. For Adonai has ransomed Jacob. He redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
11. They will come and sing on Zion’s height, radiant over the bounty of Adonai— over the grain, the wine, the oil, and the young of the flock. Their life will be like a watered garden, and they will never languish again.
12. Then will the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old men together. For I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them, and make them rejoice out of their sorrow.
13. I will fill the soul of the kohanim with fatness and My people will be satisfied with My goodness.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
14. Thus says Adonai: “A voice is heard in Ramah —lamentation and bitter weeping— Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”
15. Thus says Adonai: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears. For your work will be rewarded” —it is declaration of Adonai— “when they will return from the land of the enemy.
16. So there is hope for your future” —it is declaration of Adonai— “when your children will return to their own territory.
17. I indeed heard Ephraim grieving: ‘You have disciplined me— I was disciplined like an untrained calf. Restore me, and I will return, for you are Adonai my God.
18. For after I returned, I repented, and after that I was instructed, I struck my thigh— I was ashamed and also humiliated, for I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
19. Is Ephraim a precious son to Me? Is he a delightful child? For as often as I spoke against him, I still certainly remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him. I will surely have compassion on him.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
20. Erect road markers, set up signposts! Set your heart toward the highway, the way by which you traveled! Return, O virgin Israel, return to your cities.
21. How long will you waver, O backsliding daughter? For Adonai has created a new thing on earth: a woman surrounds a man.