a“If a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
bWould not that land be greatly polluted?
cYou have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to athe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
bBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
cYou have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 aTherefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have bthe forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now acalled to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 awill he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”
Faithless Israel Called to Repentance
6 The Lord said to me in the days of aKing Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, bhow she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there cplayed the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous asister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, aI had sent her away with ba decree of divorce. cYet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went dand played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with astone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me awith her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”
11 And the Lord said to me, a“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward athe north, and say,
b“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for cI am merciful,
declares the Lord;
dI will not be angry forever.
13 aOnly acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under bevery green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
14 aReturn, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
bfor I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15 “‘And aI will give you shepherds after my own heart, bwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, aand all nations shall gather to it, bto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 aIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land bof the north to cthe land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
19 “‘I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would acall me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 aSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.’”
21 A voice on the abare heights is heard,
bthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 a“Return, O faithless sons;
bI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly athe hills are a delusion,
the orgies on the mountains.
bTruly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 aLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For bwe have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”