"Thus saith Jehovah:
Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears.
Thou shalt have wages for thy labour—it is the utterance of Jehovah—they shall return from the enemy's land.
There is hope for thee in the days to come—it is the utterance of Jehovah—thy children shall return to their own border."[408]
The Niobe of the nation is comforted, but now is heard another voice:—
"Surely I hear Ephraim bemoaning himself: Thou hast chastised me; I am chastised like a calf not yet broken to the yoke.
Restore me to Thy favour, that I may return unto Thee, for Thou art Jehovah my God.
In returning unto Thee, I repent; when I come to myself, I smite upon my thigh in penitence."[409]
The image of the calf is another reminiscence of Hosea, with whom Israel figures as a "backsliding heifer" and Ephraim as a "heifer that has been broken in and loveth to tread out the corn"; though apparently in Hosea Ephraim is broken in to wickedness. Possibly this figure was suggested by the calves at Bethel and Dan.
The moaning of Ephraim, like the wailing of Rachel, is met and answered by the Divine compassion. By a bold and touching figure, Jehovah is represented as surprised at the depth of His passionate affection for His prodigal son:—
"Can it be that Ephraim is indeed a son that is precious to Me? is he indeed a darling child?
As often as I speak against him, I cannot cease to remember him,[410]
Wherefore My tender compassion is moved towards him: verily I will have mercy on him—
It is the utterance of Jehovah."
As with Hosea, Israel is still the child whom Jehovah loved, the son whom He called out of Egypt. But now Israel is called with a more effectual calling:—
"Set thee up pillars of stone,[411] to mark the way; make thee guide-posts: set thy heart toward the highway whereby thou wentest.
Return, O Virgin of Israel, return unto these thy cities."
The following verse strikes a note of discord, that suggests the revulsion of feeling, the sudden access of doubt, that sometimes follows the most ecstatic moods:—