Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord: I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
who say to a tree, “You are my father,” and to a stone, “You gave me birth.” For they have turned their backs to me and not their faces. But in the time of their trouble they say, “Come and save us!”
I thought how I would set you among my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful heritage of all the nations. And I thought you would call to me, “My Father,” and would not turn from following me.
With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back; I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path where they shall not stumble, for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
From there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she shall respond as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.
A son honors his father and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. You say, “How have we despised your name?”
You ask, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.