2  “Plead with your mother, plead—

for ^zshe is not my wife,

and I am not her husband—

that she put away ^aher whoring from her face,

and her adultery from between her breasts;

3  lest ^bI strip her naked

and make her as ^cin the day she was born,

and ^dmake her like a wilderness,

and make her like a parched land,

and kill her with thirst.

4  ^eUpon her children also I will have no mercy,

^fbecause they are children of whoredom.

5  For ^gtheir mother has played the whore;

she who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For ^hshe said, ‘I will go after my lovers,

who ⁱgive me my bread and my water,

my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’

6  Therefore ^jI will hedge up her⁹ way with thorns,

and ^kI will build a wall against her,

so that she cannot find her paths.

7  She shall pursue her lovers

but not overtake them,

and she shall seek them

but shall not find them.

^lThen she shall say,

‘I will go and return to ^mmy first husband,

^lfor it was better for me then than now.’

8  And ⁿshe did not know

that it was ^oI who gave her

^pthe grain, the wine, and the oil,

and who lavished on ^qher silver and gold,

^rwhich they used for Baal.

9  Therefore ^sI will take back

my grain in its time,

and my wine in its season,

and ^sI will take away my wool and my flax,

which were to cover her nakedness.

10  Now ^tI will uncover her lewdness

in the sight of her lovers,

and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.

11  ^uAnd I will put an end to all her mirth,

her feasts, her ^vnew moons, her ^vSabbaths,

and all her ^wappointed feasts.

12  And ^xI will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,

^yof which she said,

‘These are ^zmy wages,

which my lovers have given me.’

I will make them a forest,

^aand the beasts of the field shall devour them.

13  And ^bI will punish her for ^cthe feast days of the Baals

when she burned offerings to them

and ^dadorned herself with her ring and jewelry,

and went after her lovers

and forgot me, declares the Lord.

14  “Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

and ^ebring her into the wilderness,

and ^fspeak tenderly to her.

15  And there I will give her her vineyards

and make the Valley of Achor¹⁰ a door of hope.

And there she shall answer ^gas in the days of her youth,

as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

21  “And ^pin that day ^qI will answer, declares the Lord,

I will answer the heavens,

and they shall answer the earth,

22  and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and they shall answer ^rJezreel,¹²

23  and ^sI will sow her for myself in the land.

And ^tI ^uwill have mercy on No Mercy,¹³

and ^vI will say to Not My People,^{14 w}‘You are my people’;

and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

1  ^uMy God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so ^vfar from saving me, from the words of my ^wgroaning?

2  O my God, I cry by ^xday, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.

3  Yet you are ^yholy,

^zenthroned on ^athe praises¹ of Israel.

4  In you our fathers trusted;

they trusted, and you delivered them.

5  To you they ^bcried and were rescued;

in you they ^ctrusted and were not put to shame.

6  But I am ^da worm and not a man,

^escorned by mankind and ^fdespised by the people.

7  All who see me ^gmock me;

they make mouths at me; they ^hwag their heads;

8  ⁱ“He trusts in the Lord; let him ^jdeliver him;

let him rescue him, for he ^kdelights in him!”

9  Yet you are he who ^ltook me from the womb;

you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.

10  On you was I cast from my birth,

and from ^mmy mother’s womb you have been my God.

11  Be not ⁿfar from me,

for trouble is near,

and there is ^onone to help.

12  Many bulls encompass me;

^pstrong bulls of ^qBashan surround me;

13  they ^ropen wide their mouths at me,

like a ravening and roaring lion.

14  I am ^spoured out like water,

and all my bones are ^tout of joint;

my ^uheart is like ^vwax;

it is melted within my breast;

15  my strength is ^wdried up like a potsherd,

and my ^xtongue sticks to my jaws;

you lay me in the dust of death.

16  For ^ydogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers ^zencircles me;

they have ^apierced my hands and feet²—

17  I can count all my bones—

they ^bstare and gloat over me;

18  ^cthey divide my garments among them,

and for my clothing they cast lots.

19  But you, O Lord, ⁿdo not be far off!

O you my help, ^dcome quickly to my aid!

20  Deliver my soul from the sword,

my precious life from the power of ^ethe dog!

21  Save me from ^fthe mouth of the lion!

You have rescued³ me from the horns of ^gthe wild oxen!

22  ^hI will tell of your name to my ⁱbrothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23  You who ^jfear the Lord, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, ^kglorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

24  For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of ^lthe afflicted,

and he has not ^mhidden his face from him,

but has heard, when he ⁿcried to him.

25  From you comes my praise in the great ^ocongregation;

my ^pvows I will ^qperform before those who fear him.

26  ^rThe afflicted⁴ shall ^seat and be satisfied;

those who seek him shall praise the Lord!

May your hearts ^tlive forever!

27  All ^uthe ends of the earth shall remember

and turn to the Lord,

and all ^vthe families of the nations

shall worship before you.

28  For ^wkingship belongs to the Lord,

and he rules over the nations.

29  All ^xthe prosperous of the earth eat and worship;

before him shall ^ybow all who go down to the dust,

even the one who could not ^zkeep himself alive.

30  Posterity shall serve him;

it shall be told of the Lord to the coming ^ageneration;

31  they shall ^bcome and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet ^cunborn,

that he has done it.