18. “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus,‘You have chastised me,and I was chastised, as an untrained calf.Turn me, and I will be turned;for you are the Lord my God.
19. Surely after that I was turned.I repented.After that I was instructed.I struck my thigh.I was ashamed, yes, even confounded,because I bore the reproach of my youth.’
20. Is Ephraim my dear son?Is he a darling child?For as often as I speak against him,I still earnestly remember him.therefore my heart yearns for him.I will surely have mercy on him,” says the Lord.
21. “Set up road signs.Make guideposts.Set your heart towards the highway,even the way by which you went.Turn again, virgin of Israel.Turn again to these your cities.
22. How long will you go here and there,you backsliding daughter?For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth:a woman will encompass a man.”
23. the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their captivity: ‘the Lord bless you, habitation of righteousness, mountain of holiness.’
24. Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.
25. For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.”
26. On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me.