A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, they have forgotten the Lord their God.
They shall come with weeping: and I will bring them back in mercy. And I will bring them through the torrents of waters in a right way: and they shall not stumble in it. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Lift up thy eyes on high, and see where thou hast not prostuted thyself. Thou didst sit in the ways, waiting for them as a robber in the wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications and with thy wickedness.
Because thou hast forgotten God thy saviour, and hast not remembered thy strong helper: therefore shalt thou plant good plants and shalt sow strange seed.
The house is gone up, and Dibon to the high places, to mourn over Nabo: and over Medaba Moab hath howled. On all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard shall be shaven.
And Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and hath built temples: and Juda hath built many fenced cities: and I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the houses thereof.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Because thou hast forgotten me and hast cast me off behind thy back, bear thou also thy wickedness and thy fornications.
And such of them as shall flee shall escape: and they shall be in the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them trembling, every one for his iniquity.
For whom hast thou been solicitous and afraid, that thou hast lied and hast not been mindful of me, nor thought on me in thy heart? For I am silent and as one that seeth not: and thou hast forgotten me.
The spoilers are come upon all the ways of the wilderness, for the sword of the Lord shall devour from one end of the land to the other end thereof: there is no peace for all flesh.