Page:JPS-1917-Universal.djvu/733

---

²³And it shall come to pass in that day,

I will respond, saith the Lord, I will respond to the heavens,

And they shall respond to the earth;

²⁴And the earth shall respond to the corn, and the wine, and the oil;

And they shall respond to ^[1]Jezreel.

²⁵And I will sow her unto Me in the land;

And I will have compassion upon her that had not obtained compassion;

And I will say to them that were not My people: 'Thou art My people';

And they shall say: 'Thou art my God.'

3And the Lord said unto me: 'Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend and an adulteress, even as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, though they turn unto other gods, and love cakes of raisins.' ²So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer of barley, and a half-homer of barley; ³and I said unto her: 'Thou shalt sit solitary for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be any man's wife; nor will I be thine.' ⁴For the children of Israel shall sit solitary many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod or teraphim; ⁵afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall come trembling unto the Lord and to His goodness in the end of days.

4Hear the word of the Lord, ye children of Israel!

For the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is no truth, nor mercy,

Nor knowledge of God in the land.

²Swearing and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery!

They break all bounds, and blood toucheth blood.

³Therefore doth the land mourn,

And every one that dwelleth therein doth languish,

With the beasts of the field and the fowls of heaven;

Yea, the fishes of the sea also are taken away.

 

⁴Yet let no man strive, neither let any man reprove;

For thy people are as they that strive with the priest.

⁵Therefore shalt thou stumble in the day,

And the prophet also shall stumble with thee in the night;

And I will destroy thy mother.

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

Because thou hast rejected knowledge,

I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me;

Seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,

I also will forget thy children.

 

⁷The more they were increased, the more they sinned against Me;

I will change their glory into shame.

⁸They feed on the sin of My people,

And set their heart on their iniquity.

⁹And it is like people, like priest;

And I will punish him for his ways,

And will recompense him his doings.

¹⁰And they shall eat, and not have enough,

They shall commit harlotry, and shall not increase;

Because they have left off to take heed to the Lord.

1. That is, Whom God soweth.

711