1
They say,[a] If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become anotherman's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatlypolluted? but thou hast played the harlot with manylovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
2
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and seewhere thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's*forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
4
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
5
Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
6
The LORDsaid also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backslidingIsrael hath done? she is gone up upon every highmountain and under every greentree, and there hath played the harlot.
7
And I saidafter she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacheroussisterJudahsaw it.
8
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backslidingIsrael committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacheroussisterJudahfeared not, but went and played the harlot also.
9
And it came to pass through the lightness[b] of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10
And yet for all this her treacheroussisterJudah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly,[c]saith the LORD.