God’s Paternal Love for Israel
1I fell in love with Israel
When he was still a child;
And I have called [him] My son
Ever since Egypt.
2Thus were they called,
But they went their own way;
They sacrifice to Baalim
And offer to carved images.
3I have pampered Ephraim,
Taking them in My arms;
But they have ignored
My healing care.
4I drew them with human ties,
With cords of love;
But I seemed to them as one
Who imposed a yoke on their jaws,
Though I was offering them food.
5No!
They return to the land of Egypt,
And Assyria is their king.
Because they refuse to repent,
6A sword shall descend upon their towns
And consume their limbs
And devour [them] because of their designs.
7For My people persists
In its defection from Me;
When it is summoned upward,
It does not rise at all.
8How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How surrender you, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah,
Render you like Zeboiim?a
I have had a change of heart,
All My tenderness is stirred.
9I will not act on My wrath,
Will not turn to destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, not man,
The Holy One in your midst:
I will not come in fury.
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Notes
Admah and Zeboiim were destroyed with neighboring Sodom and Gomorrah.
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
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