Jeremiah 3:1–14

The Polluted Land

1 God 1says, “aIf a husband divorces his wife

And she goes from him

And belongs to another man,

Will he still return to her?

Will not that land be completely 2polluted?

But you bare a harlot with many 3lovers;

Yet you cturn to Me,” declares the Lord.

2 “Lift up your eyes to the abare heights and see;

Where have you not been violated?

By the roads you have bsat for them

Like an Arab in the desert,

And you have cpolluted a land

With your harlotry and with your wickedness.

3 “Therefore the ashowers have been withheld,

And there has been no spring rain.

Yet you had a bharlot’s forehead;

You refused to be ashamed.

4 “Have you not just now called to Me,

‘aMy Father, You are the 1bfriend of my cyouth?

5 ‘aWill He be angry forever?

Will He 1be indignant to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken

And have done evil things,

And you have 2had your way.”

Faithless Israel

6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She awent up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there.

7 “aI 1thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her btreacherous sister Judah saw it.

8 “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and agiven her a writ of divorce, yet her btreacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.

9 “Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she apolluted the land and committed adultery with bstones and trees.

10 “Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in adeception,” declares the Lord.

God Invites Repentance

11 And the Lord said to me, “aFaithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12 “Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,

‘aReturn, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;

‘bI will not 1look upon you in anger.

For I am cgracious,’ declares the Lord;

‘I will not be angry forever.

13 ‘Only 1aacknowledge your iniquity,

That you have transgressed against the Lord your God

And have bscattered your 2favors to the strangers cunder every green tree,

And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.

14 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;

‘For I am a amaster to you,

And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,

And bI will bring you to Zion.’