God Yearns over His People
1 When Israel was a youth I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son.
2 The more 11:2 I.e., God’s prophetsthey called them,
The more they went away from 11:2 I.e., God’s prophetsthem;
They kept sacrificing to the Baals
And burning incense to idols.
3 Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk,
11:3 As in ancient versions; MT He...His I took them in My arms;
But they did not know that I healed them.
4 I pulled them along with cords of a man, with ropes of love,
And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws;
And I bent down and fed them.