She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them. Then she shall say,‘ I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’

她必追随所爱的，却追不上；她必寻找他们，却寻不见，便说：‘我要归回前夫，因我那时的光景比如今还好。’

以致她追随所爱的人，却追不上，寻找他们，却寻不着，就说：“我要回到前夫那里去，因我那时比现在还好。”

以致她追随所爱的人，却追不上，寻找他们，却寻不着，就说：“我要回到前夫那里去，因我那时比现在还好。”

她要追随情人，却追不上；寻找情人，却找不到。于是，她说，‘我倒不如回到丈夫身边，我从前的光景比现在还好。’

她要追赶她那些爱人，却追不上；要寻找他们，却找不着。她就说：‘我要回去，回到前夫那里，因为从前比现在好得多了。’

她必追隨所愛的，卻追不上；她必尋找他們，卻尋不見，便說：我要歸回前夫，因我那時的光景比如今還好。

以致她追隨所愛的人，卻追不上，尋找他們，卻尋不着，就說：「我要回到前夫那裏去，因我那時比現在還好。」

以致她追隨所愛的人，卻追不上，尋找他們，卻尋不着，就說：「我要回到前夫那裏去，因我那時比現在還好。」

她要追隨情人，卻追不上；尋找情人，卻找不到。於是，她說，『我倒不如回到丈夫身邊，我從前的光景比現在還好。』

她要追趕她那些愛人，卻追不上；要尋找他們，卻找不著。她就說：‘我要回去，回到前夫那裡，因為從前比現在好得多了。’

她必追逐她的愛人，卻追不上；她必尋找他們，卻尋不見；便說：「我要去，回歸我的前夫，因為我那時的光景比如今還好。」

彼追情人而不及、尋之而不遇、則曰、我將歸我故夫、彼日之況、較今日尤美也、

彼欲從所懽、而不能、遍索弗得、遂曰我憶昔所懽、其贈余者、多於今日、故必歸之、

彼追隨愛之者不得及、尋之不遇、遂曰、不如歸就前夫、我昔時景況、佳於今日、

She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say,‘ I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.’

She will still chase after her lovers. But she won’t catch them. She’ll look for them. But she won’t find them. Then she’ll say,‘ I’ll go back to my husband. That’s where I was at first. I was better off then than I am now.’

When she runs after her lovers, she won’t be able to catch them. She will search for them but not find them. Then she will think,‘ I might as well return to my husband, for I was better off with him than I am now.’

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will think,“ I will go back to my former husband, for then it was better for me than now.”

And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say,‘ I will go back to my first husband, Because it was better for me then than now!’

She will chase her lovers, But not overtake them; Yes, she will seek them, but not find them. Then she will say,‘ I will go and return to my first husband, For then it was better for me than now.’

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will think,“ I will go back to my former husband, for then it was better for me than now.”

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find[ them]: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then[ was it] better with me than now.

Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. Then she will say,“ I will go back to my husband, because I was better off then than I am now.”

She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say,‘ I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.’

“ 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.

When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the great king. But he is not able to cure you or heal your wound.

but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O Lord our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.

Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

How much you go about, changing your way! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria.From it too you will come away with your hands on your head, for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper by them.“ If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord.

who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.

But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah.

not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.

and you said,“ No! We will flee upon horses”; therefore you shall flee away; and,“ We will ride upon swift steeds”; therefore your pursuers shall be swift.

and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.”

Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God:“ Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!And yet he is wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.The Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall, and they will all perish together.

And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.“ Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.

He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat— and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.“ But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

I have heard Ephraim grieving,‘ You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf; bring me back that I may be restored, for you are the Lord my God.

So Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him.For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord— this same King Ahaz.

“ For thus says the Lord: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous.There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you.All your lovers have forgotten you; they care nothing for you; for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant.Why do you cry out over your hurt? Your pain is incurable. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, I have done these things to you.

“ In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God.They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying,‘ Come, let us join ourselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

“ When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.

I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me.“ Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

Beware lest you say in your heart,‘ My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them.

“ What is in your mind shall never happen— the thought,‘ Let us be like the nations, like the tribes of the countries, and worship wood and stone.’

“ Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.”“ Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.“ But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:“ We have transgressed and rebelled, and you have not forgiven.

The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’

“ And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you— with great and good cities that you did not build,and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant— and when you eat and are full,then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

that you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. You shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and you shall be wet with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.

“ But when he came to himself, he said,‘ How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him,“ Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High God rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom he will.