Your Sex-and-Religion Obsessions

1  3 God’s Message came to me as follows:

“If a man’s wife

walks out on him

And marries another man,

can he take her back as if nothing had happened?

Wouldn’t that raise a huge stink

in the land?

And isn’t that what you’ve done—

‘whored’ your way with god after god?

And now you want to come back as if nothing had happened.”

God’s Decree.

2–5  “Look around at the hills.

Where have you not had sex?

You’ve camped out like hunters stalking deer.

You’ve solicited many lover-gods,

Like a streetwalking whore

chasing after other gods.

And so the rain has stopped.

No more rain from the skies!

But it doesn’t even faze you. Brazen as whores,

you carry on as if you’ve done nothing wrong.

Then you have the nerve to call out, ‘My father!

You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?

Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?’

That’s your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop.”

Admit Your God-Defiance

6–10  God spoke to me during the reign of King Josiah: “You have noticed, haven’t you, how fickle Israel has visited every hill and grove of trees as a whore at large? I assumed that after she had gotten it out of her system, she’d come back, but she didn’t. Her flighty sister, Judah, saw what she did. She also saw that because of fickle Israel’s loose morals I threw her out, gave her her walking papers. But that didn’t faze flighty sister Judah. She went out, big as you please, and took up a whore’s life also. She took up cheap sex-and-religion as a sideline diversion, an indulgent re-creation, and used anything and anyone, flouting sanity and sanctity alike, stinking up the country. And not once in all this did flighty sister Judah even give me a nod, although she made a show of it from time to time.” God’s Decree.

11–12  Then God told me, “Fickle Israel was a good sight better than flighty Judah. Go and preach this message. Face north toward Israel and say:

12–15  “ ‘Turn back, fickle Israel.

I’m not just hanging back to punish you.

I’m committed in love to you.

My anger doesn’t see the nonstop.

Just admit your guilt.

Admit your God-defiance.

Admit to your promiscuous life with casual partners,

pulling strangers into the sex-and-religion groves

While turning a deaf ear to me.’ ”

God’s Decree.

“Come back, wandering children!”

God’s Decree.

“I, yes I, am your true husband.

I’ll pick you out one by one—

This one from the city, these two from the country—

and bring you to Zion.

I’ll give you good shepherd-rulers who rule my way,

who rule you with intelligence and wisdom.

16  “And this is what will happen: You will increase and prosper in the land. The time will come”—God’s Decree!—“when no one will say any longer, ‘Oh, for the good old days! Remember the Ark of the Covenant?’ It won’t even occur to anyone to say it—‘the good old days.’ The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.

17  “Jerusalem will be the new Ark—‘God’s Throne.’ All the godless nations, no longer stuck in the ruts of their evil ways, will gather there to honor God.

18  “At that time, the House of Judah will join up with the House of Israel. Holding hands, they’ll leave the north country and come to the land I willed to your ancestors.

19–20  “I planned what I’d say if you returned to me:

‘Good! I’ll bring you back into the family.

I’ll give you choice land,

land that the godless nations would die for.’

And I imagined that you would say, ‘Dear father!’

and would never again go off and leave me.

But no luck. Like a false-hearted woman walking out on her husband,

you, the whole family of Israel, have proven false to me.”

God’s Decree.

21–22  The sound of voices comes drifting out of the hills,

the unhappy sound of Israel’s crying,

Israel lamenting the wasted years,

never once giving her God a thought.

“Come back, wandering children!

I can heal your wanderlust!”

22–25  “We’re here! We’ve come back to you.

You’re our own true God!

All that popular religion was a cheap lie,

duped crowds buying up the latest in gods.

We’re back! Back to our true God,

the salvation of Israel.

The Fraud picked us clean, swindled us

of what our ancestors bequeathed us,

Gypped us out of our inheritance—

God-blessed flocks and God-given children.

We made our bed and now lie in it,

all tangled up in the dirty sheets of dishonor.

All because we sinned against our God,

we and our fathers and mothers.

From the time we took our first steps, said our first words,

we’ve been rebels, disobeying the voice of our God.”

1  31 “And when that happens”—God’s Decree—

“it will be plain as the sun at high noon:

I’ll be the God of every man, woman, and child in Israel

and they shall be my very own people.”

2–6  This is the way God put it:

“They found grace out in the desert,

these people who survived the killing.

Israel, out looking for a place to rest,

met God out looking for them!”

God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.

Expect love, love, and more love!

And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again,

dear virgin Israel.

You’ll resume your singing,

grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.

You’ll go back to your old work of planting vineyards

on the Samaritan hillsides,

And sit back and enjoy the fruit—

oh, how you’ll enjoy those harvests!

The time’s coming when watchmen will call out

from the hilltops of Ephraim:

‘On your feet! Let’s go to Zion,

go to meet our God!’ ”

7  Oh yes, God says so:

“Shout for joy at the top of your lungs for Jacob!

Announce the good news to the number-one nation!

Raise cheers! Sing praises. Say,

‘God has saved his people,

saved the core of Israel.’

8  “Watch what comes next:

“I’ll bring my people back

from the north country

And gather them up from the ends of the earth,

gather those who’ve gone blind

And those who are lame and limping,

gather pregnant women,

Even the mothers whose birth pangs have started,

bring them all back, a huge crowd!

9  “Watch them come! They’ll come weeping for joy

as I take their hands and lead them,

Lead them to fresh flowing brooks,

lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths.

Yes, it’s because I’m Israel’s Father

and Ephraim’s my firstborn son!

10–14  “Hear this, nations! God’s Message!

Broadcast this all over the world!

Tell them, ‘The One who scattered Israel

will gather them together again.

From now on he’ll keep a careful eye on them,

like a shepherd with his flock.’

I, God, will pay a stiff ransom price for Jacob;

I’ll free him from the grip of the Babylonian bully.

The people will climb up Zion’s slopes shouting with joy,

their faces beaming because of God’s bounty—

Grain and wine and oil,

flocks of sheep, herds of cattle.

Their lives will be like a well-watered garden,

never again left to dry up.

Young women will dance and be happy,

young men and old men will join in.

I’ll convert their weeping into laughter,

lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.

I’ll make sure that their priests get three square meals a day

and that my people have more than enough.’ ” God’s Decree.

15–17  Again, God’s Message:

“Listen to this! Laments coming out of Ramah,

wild and bitter weeping.

It’s Rachel weeping for her children,

Rachel refusing all solace.

Her children are gone,

gone—long gone into exile.”

But God says, “Stop your incessant weeping,

hold back your tears.

Collect wages from your grief work.” God’s Decree.

“They’ll be coming back home!

There’s hope for your children.” God’s Decree.

18–19  “I’ve heard the contrition of Ephraim.

Yes, I’ve heard it clearly, saying,

‘You trained me well.

You broke me, a wild yearling horse, to the saddle.

Now put me, trained and obedient, to use.

You are my God.

After those years of running loose, I repented.

After you trained me to obedience,

I was ashamed of my past, my wild, unruly past.

Humiliated, I beat on my chest.

Will I ever live this down?’

20  “Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son,

my child in whom I take pleasure!

Every time I mention his name,

my heart bursts with longing for him!

Everything in me cries out for him.

Softly and tenderly I wait for him.” God’s Decree.

21–22  “Set up signposts to mark your trip home.

Get a good map.

Study the road conditions.

The road out is the road back.

Come back, dear virgin Israel,

come back to your hometowns.

How long will you flit here and there, indecisive?

How long before you make up your fickle mind?

God will create a new thing in this land:

A transformed woman will embrace the transforming God!”

23–24  A Message from Israel’s God-of-the-Angel-Armies: “When I’ve turned everything around and brought my people back, the old expressions will be heard on the streets: ‘God bless you!’ … ‘O True Home!’ … ‘O Holy Mountain!’ All Judah’s people, whether in town or country, will get along just fine with each other.

25  I’ll refresh tired bodies;

I’ll restore tired souls.

26  Just then I woke up and looked around—what a pleasant and satisfying sleep!

27–28  “Be ready. The time’s coming”—God’s Decree—“when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer plants seed. And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they start over, building and planting.

29  “When that time comes you won’t hear the old proverb anymore,

Parents ate the green apples,

their children got the stomachache.

30  “No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you’re the one who gets sick.

31–32  “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the…