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could he ever return to her again?
Would not such a land become completely defiled?
But you have played the whore with many lovers,
and would you now return to Me?”
‘declares the Lord.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see.
Where have you not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for them,
like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rains have not come.
You have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just called to Me,
‘My Father, You are the friend of my youth?
5 Will He be angry forever?
Will His wrath continue to the end?’
This is how you speak,
but you do all the evil that you are able to” ’.”
6 In the days of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree, and played the harlot there. 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to Me’. But she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 Then I saw that for all the causes that unfaithful Israel had committed adultery, I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid, but she too went and played the harlot. 9 Because she was indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. 10 Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” declares the Lord.
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north:
‘Return, faithless Israel’,
declares the Lord;
‘I will not look on you with anger,
for I am merciful’,
declares the Lord.
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God.
You have scattered your favours to strangers
under every luxuriant tree,
and have not obeyed My voice’,
declares the Lord.
14 “Return, O faithless children,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 “In those days, when you have multipled and increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord’. It will never come to mind, nor will it be remembered or missed, and another one will not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem will be called, The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord in Jerusalem. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
18 “In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north that I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.
19 “I Myself said,
‘How gladly I would make you My sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations’.
I thought you would call Me, ‘Father’,
and never turn away from Me.
20 Yet as an unfaithful wife betrays her husband,
so you have been unfaithful to Me, O house of Israel,”
declares the Lord.
21 A cry is heard on the barren heights,
the children of Israel weeping and pleading,
for they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, you faithless children,
and I will heal your backsliding.”
“Yes, here we are,
we will come to You,
for You are the Lord our God.
23 Truly, deception is on the hills,
uproar and commotion are on the mountains;
but the Lord our God
is the only salvation for Israel.
24 From the days of our youth
a shameful thing has devoured
all our fathers worked for—
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame,
and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God,
both we and our fathers;
from our youth even to this day
we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”