Jeremiah

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. ¹⁹Surely 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.’ ²⁰Is 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 toward the highway,even the way by which you went.Turn again, virgin of Israel.Turn again to these your cities. ²²How 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.” ²³the 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.’ ²⁴Judah and all its cities will dwell therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks.