Hosea 11:8-11

8 Israel, I cannot leave you alone.

I cannot let you belong to someone else.

I cannot destroy you, as I did to Admah and Zeboiim.

I now realize that I love you too much.

I could never destroy you completely.

9 I am very angry with you,

but I will not punish you so much.

I will never destroy my people, Ephraim.

This is because I am God. I am not a human.

I am the Holy God who is with you.

I will not come to destroy you in my anger.

10 I will roar loudly like a lion,

so that my children come to follow me.

When I roar, my children will shake with fear,

as they come from the west.

11 They will return to me, like birds that fly from Egypt.

They will come like doves that fly from Assyria.

They will be afraid, as they return.

I will bring them back to live in their homes again.’

That is what the Lord says.