1. The Lord said, “I loved Israel when he was a child, and I called my son out of Egypt.
2. But the more I called the Israelites, the more they left me. The Israelites gave sacrifices to the false gods and burned incense to the idols.
3. “But I was the one who taught Ephraim to walk. I took the Israelites in my arms. I healed them, but they don’t know that.
4. I led them with ropes, but they were ropes of love. I was like a person who set them free. I bent down and fed them.
5. “The Israelites will not go back to Egypt. The king of Assyria will become their king, because they refused to turn back to God.