Go, and cry in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, Thus says the LORD, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
who tell a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
But I said, How I will put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations! and I said, You shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.
They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Yisra'el, and Efrayim is my firstborn.
I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of `Akhor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
*A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says the LORD of Armies to you, Kohanim, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?'
Yet you say, 'Why?' Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.