The Lord's people are like his wife,
but they have abandoned him.

Hosea's wife was unfaithful to him and left him.
But the Lord told Hosea to take her back.

This was to show how God welcomes people back,
even though they have been unfaithful to him.

Lord, please help us to be faithful to you

there is no fidelity, no tenderness,
no knowledge of God in the country,

only perjury and lies, slaughter, theft,
adultery, violence and murder.

This is why the country is in mourning.
This is why you have experienced so much disaster.

My people, says the Lord,
perish for want of knowledge.

Lord, please help us lead good lives,
 and so help our country experience blessing

What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I to do with you, Judah?

Your love is like a morning cloud,
like dew that quickly disappears.

What I want  is love, not the sacrifice of animals in the Temple.
What I want is knowledge of God, not burnt offerings in the Temple.

Lord, please help us to love you as we should

Israel has forgotten its Maker.
The people worship idols made by human hands.

It is time to seek the Lord.
It is time to sow integrity and reap kindness.

Israel, come back to the Lord your God.
Have no more to do with idols made by human hands.

Lord, please help us lead good lives, and thereby follow you