Jeremiah 31:20

Is Ephraim my dear son? &c.— Some render this passage, Is not Ephraim my dear son? Is he not a delightful child? Verily, the oftener I speak of him, I shall still remember him more and more: therefore my bowels yearn upon or towards him, &c. Houbigant, however, defends the common reading; he thinks that God means to deny that Ephraim was his son, in order to shew him that his bowels were moved towards him solely through free mercy, and not on account of any merit or deservings of this people.