“ Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.

“以法莲哪，我怎能舍弃你？以色列啊，我怎能弃绝你？我怎能使你如押玛？怎能使你如洗扁？我回心转意，我的怜爱大大发动。

以法莲哪，我怎能舍弃你？以色列啊，我怎能弃绝你？我怎能使你如押玛？怎能使你如洗扁？我回心转意，我的怜悯燃了起来。

以法莲哪，我怎能舍弃你？以色列啊，我怎能弃绝你？我怎能使你如押玛？怎能使你如洗扁？我回心转意，我的怜悯燃了起来。

以法莲啊，我怎能舍弃你？以色列啊，我怎能弃绝你？我怎能使你的下场如押玛？我怎能对待你如对待洗扁？我的心意改变，我满怀怜爱。

“以法莲啊，我怎能舍弃你！以色列啊，我怎能把你交出来！我怎能对你如同押玛，待你好像洗扁呢！我的心肠翻转，我的怜悯发动。

以法蓮哪，我怎能捨棄你？以色列啊，我怎能棄絕你？我怎能使你如押瑪？怎能使你如洗扁？我回心轉意，我的憐愛大大發動。

以法蓮哪，我怎能捨棄你？以色列啊，我怎能棄絕你？我怎能使你如押瑪？怎能使你如洗扁？我回心轉意，我的憐憫燃了起來。

以法蓮哪，我怎能捨棄你？以色列啊，我怎能棄絕你？我怎能使你如押瑪？怎能使你如洗扁？我回心轉意，我的憐憫燃了起來。

以法蓮啊，我怎能捨棄你？以色列啊，我怎能棄絕你？我怎能使你的下場如押瑪？我怎能對待你如對待洗扁？我的心意改變，我滿懷憐愛。

“以法蓮啊，我怎能捨棄你！以色列啊，我怎能把你交出來！我怎能對你如同押瑪，待你好像洗扁呢！我的心腸翻轉，我的憐憫發動。

以法蓮哪，我怎能捨棄你啊！以色列啊，我怎能把你交出啊！我怎能使你如押瑪！使你如洗扁哪！我的心在我裏面翻轉着，我憐愛之情一直熱起來。

以法蓮歟、我焉能舍爾、以色列歟、我焉能棄爾、焉能使爾若押瑪、置爾如洗扁、我回厥志、慈心熾發、

以法蓮乎、我安忍舍爾、以色列乎、我焉肯棄爾、豈能視爾若押馬、敗爾若西編、我回厥志、慈愛之念、頓發於中、

以法蓮乎、我奚能舍爾、以色列乎、我奚能付爾於敵、奚能使爾如押瑪、奚能使爾如洗扁、我已回志、慈心孔發、

“ How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.

The Lord continues,“ People of Ephraim, how can I give you up? Israel, how can I hand you over to your enemies? Can I destroy you as I did the town of Admah? Can I treat you like Zeboyim? My heart is stirred inside me. It is filled with pity for you.

How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender.

How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart; my compassion is stirred!

How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled.

“ How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I cast thee off, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboiim? my heart is turned within me, my compassions are kindled together.

How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I surrender you, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart; My compassion is stirred!

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim?[ how] shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah?[ how] shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? I have had a change of heart! All my tender compassions are aroused!

“ How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

“ Is not Israel still my son, my darling child?” says the Lord.“ I often have to punish him, but I still love him. That’s why I long for him and surely will have mercy on him.

“ O Israel and Judah, what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.“ For your love vanishes like the morning mist and disappears like dew in the sunlight.

“ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me.

They will exclaim,‘ The whole land is devastated by sulfur and salt. It is a wasteland with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It is like the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger.’

Then the rebel kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim, and Bela( also called Zoar) prepared for battle in the valley of the Dead Sea.

“ Indeed, the Lord will give justice to his people, and he will change his mind about his servants, when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free.

Later, God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and turned them into heaps of ashes. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people.

And don’t forget Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring towns, which were filled with immorality and every kind of sexual perversion. Those cities were destroyed by fire and serve as a warning of the eternal fire of God’s judgment.

“ I destroyed some of your cities, as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like charred sticks pulled from a fire. But still you would not return to me,” says the Lord.

Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation.

But the Lord was gracious and merciful to the people of Israel, and they were not totally destroyed. He pitied them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And to this day he still has not completely destroyed them or banished them from his presence.

But as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, he began to weep.“ How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.

He remembered his covenant with them and relented because of his unfailing love.

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:“ See, I will melt them down in a crucible and test them like metal. What else can I do with my people?

Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says:“ O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever.

And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called“ Sodom” and“ Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified.

So the Lord relented from this plan.“ I will not do it,” he said.

For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.

“ Lord, see my anguish! My heart is broken and my soul despairs, for I have rebelled against you. In the streets the sword kills, and at home there is only death.

Lord, look down from heaven; look from your holy, glorious home, and see us. Where is the passion and the might you used to show on our behalf? Where are your mercy and compassion now?

Then the Israelites put aside their foreign gods and served the Lord. And he was grieved by their misery.

If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.Listen to the Lord, you leaders of“ Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of“ Gomorrah.”

Now, as surely as I live,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel,“ Moab and Ammon will be destroyed— destroyed as completely as Sodom and Gomorrah. Their land will become a place of stinging nettles, salt pits, and eternal desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them and take their land.”

They will cry out as they watch the smoke ascend, and they will say,“ Where is there another city as great as this?”

Then the Lord relented from this plan, too.“ I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign Lord.

But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the death angel,“ Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.