“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,^(A)
    the most beautiful inheritance^(B) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’^(C)
    and not turn away from following me.

“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,^(A)
    how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,^(B)
    through a land not sown.