JeremiahChapter 3

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¹"If a man divorces his wife,
and she leaves him and marries another man,
can he ever go back to her?
Wouldn't that make the land completely unclean?
But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers.
And now you want to come back to me?" declares the LORD. ²"Look up at the bare hilltops and see.
Is there any place where you have not been with men?
You sat by the roads waiting for your lovers,
like a nomad in the desert.
You have made the land unclean
with your prostitution and your evil. ³That is why the showers have been held back
and no spring rains have come.
Yet you have the bold look of a prostitute.
You refuse to be ashamed. ⁴Haven't you just called out to me,
'My Father, you have been my friend since I was young. ⁵Will he be angry forever?
Will he stay mad to the end?'
That is what you have said.
But you keep doing all the evil you can." ⁶When Josiah was king, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree. There she has acted like a prostitute. ⁷I thought that after she had done all this, she would come back to me. But she did not come back. And her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. ⁸Judah saw that I sent unfaithful Israel away because of her adultery. I gave her a divorce paper. Yet her unfaithful sister Judah was not afraid. She went and acted like a prostitute too. ⁹Israel did not care that she was unfaithful. She made the land unclean. She committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰Even so, her unfaithful sister Judah did not come back to me with all her heart. She only pretended," declares the LORD. ¹¹Then the LORD said to me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown that she is more righteous than faithless Judah. ¹²Go and announce this message toward the north: 'Come back, unfaithful Israel,' declares the LORD. 'I will not look at you in anger anymore, for I am merciful,' declares the LORD. 'I will not stay angry forever. ¹³Only admit your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God. You gave your love to foreign gods under every green tree. You have not obeyed my voice,'" declares the LORD. ¹⁴"Come back, unfaithful children," declares the LORD, "for I am your master. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family. I will bring you to Zion. ¹⁵Then I will give you shepherds who follow my own heart. They will feed you with knowledge and understanding." ¹⁶"In those days your numbers will grow in the land," declares the LORD. "Then people will no longer talk about the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind. No one will remember it or miss it. And no other ark will be made. ¹⁷At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD. All the nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow their stubborn, evil hearts. ¹⁸In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel. Together they will come from the land of the north. They will come to the land I gave your fathers to keep. ¹⁹I said to myself, 'How I long to treat you as my sons! I long to give you a lovely land, the most beautiful one of all the nations!' I thought you would call me 'Father' and never turn away from following me. ²⁰But like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband, you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel," declares the LORD. ²¹A sound is heard on the bare hilltops.
It is the people of Israel weeping and begging for mercy.
For they have twisted their ways
and forgotten the LORD their God. ²²"Come back, unfaithful children,
and I will heal you of your unfaithfulness."
"Here we are. We come to you,
for you are the LORD our God. ²³Surely the hills are full of lies,
and the mountains are full of noise.
Surely the salvation of Israel
is in the LORD our God. ²⁴Since we were young,
that shameful god has eaten up
what our fathers worked for.
It took their flocks and herds,
their sons and daughters. ²⁵Let us lie down in our shame.
Let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the LORD our God,
both we and our fathers.
From our youth until today
we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."