The Polluted Land
God says, “aIf a husband divorces his wife
And she goes from him
And belongs to another man,
Will he still return to her?
Will not that land be completely polluted?
But you bare a harlot with many lovers;
Yet you cturn to Me,” declares Yahweh.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the abare heights and see;
Where have you not been ravished?
By the roads you have bsat for them
Like an Arab in the wilderness,
And you have cpolluted a land
With your harlotry and with your evil.
3 Therefore the ashowers have been withheld,
And the late rain has not come.
Yet you had a bharlot’s forehead;
You refused to feel dishonor.
4 Have you not just now called to Me,
‘aMy Father, You are the bclose companion of my cyouth?
5 aWill He be angry forever?
Will He keep it to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have had your way.”
Faithless Israel Called to Repentance
6 Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She awent up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. 7 aI said, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her btreacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and agiven her a certificate of divorce, yet her btreacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. 9 So it was, because of the lightness of her harlotry, that she apolluted the land and committed adultery with bstones and trees. 10 Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in alying,” declares Yahweh.
11 And Yahweh said to me, “aFaithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and call out these words toward the north and say,
‘aReturn, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh;
‘bI will not look upon you in anger.
For I am cOne of lovingkindness,’ declares Yahweh;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Only aacknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against Yahweh your God
And have bscattered your ways of harlotry to the strangers cunder every green tree,
And you have not listened to My voice,’ declares Yahweh.
14 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares Yahweh;
‘For I am a amaster to you,
And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,
And bI will bring you to Zion.’
15 “Then I will give you ashepherds after My own heart, who will bshepherd you on knowledge and understanding. 16 It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and fruitful in the land,” declares Yahweh, “they will ano longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come upon the heart, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The aThrone of Yahweh,’ and ball the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the cname of Yahweh; nor will they dwalk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 aIn those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together bfrom the land of the north to the cland that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
19 “Then I said,
‘How I would set you among My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most abeautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, b“My Father,”
And not turn away from following Me.’
20 Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover,
So you have adealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.
21 A voice is heard on the abare heights,
The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel;
Because they have perverted their way,
They have bforgotten Yahweh their God.
22 “Return, O faithless sons;
aI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You,
For You are Yahweh our God.
23 Surely, athe hills are a lie,
A tumult on the mountains.
Surely in bYahweh our God
Is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But athe shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our ashame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, bfrom our youth even to this day. And we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God.”