6  Therefore ^jI will hedge up her¹ 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 Achor² 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.

15  ^wI will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and ^xin their distress earnestly seek me.