1
God says, "If a husbanddivorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to anotherman, Will he stillreturn to her? Will not that land be completelypolluted? But you are a harlot with manylovers; Yet you turn to Me," declares the LORD.
2
"Lift up your eyes to the bareheights and see; Where have you not been violated? By the roads you have sat for them Like an Arab in the desert, And you have polluted a land With your harlotry and with your wickedness.
6
Then the LORDsaid to me in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seenwhatfaithlessIsraeldid? She went up on everyhighhill and undereverygreentree, and she was a harlotthere.
8
"And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithlessIsrael, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacheroussisterJudah did not fear; but she went and was a harlotalso.
12
"Go and proclaimthesewords toward the north and say, 'Return, faithlessIsrael,' declares the LORD; 'I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,' declares the LORD; 'I will not be angryforever.
13
'Onlyacknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God And have scattered your favors to the strangersundereverygreentree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' declares the LORD.
14
'Return, O faithlesssons,' declares the LORD; 'For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.'
16
"It shall be in thosedayswhen you are multiplied and increased in the land," declares the LORD, "they will nolongersay, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be madeagain.
17
"At that time they will callJerusalem 'The Throne of the LORD,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walkanymoreafter the stubbornness of their evilheart.
18
"In thosedays the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will cometogether from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
19
"Then I said, 'How I would set you among My sons And give you a pleasantland, The mostbeautifulinheritance of the nations!' And I said, 'You shall call Me, My Father, And not turnaway from following Me.'
21
A voice is heard on the bareheights, The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; Because they have perverted their way, They have forgotten the LORD their God.
25
"Let us liedown in our shame, and let our humiliationcover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to thisday. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."