18 In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel,ah and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.’ ”ai

TRUE REPENTANCE

19 I thought, “How I long to make you my sons

and give you a desirable land,

the most beautiful inheritanceaj of all the nations.”

I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father’

and never turn away from me.”

20 However, as a woman may betray her lover,H

so you have betrayedak me, house of Israel.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

21 A sound is heard on the barren heights:

the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,

for they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God.al