1. “When Israel was a child, I loved him,and I called my son out of Egypt.
2. The more I called them, the farther they went away.They sacrificed to other gods—the Baals,and they burned incense to idols.
3. I was the one who taught the people of Ephraim to walk.I took them by the hand.But they didn’t realize that I had healed them.
4. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ropes of love.I removed the yokes from their necks.I bent down and fed them.