Jeremiah 3:1–4:4

^g“If¹ a man divorces his wife

and she goes from him

and becomes another man’s wife,

will he return to her?

^hWould not that land be greatly polluted?

ⁱYou have played the whore with many lovers;

and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.

²Lift up your eyes to ^jthe bare heights, and see!

Where have you not been ravished?

^kBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers

like an Arab in the wilderness.

^hYou have polluted the land

with your vile whoredom.

^3lTherefore the showers have been withheld,

and the spring rain has not come;

yet you have ^mthe forehead of a whore;

you refuse to be ashamed.

⁴Have you not just now ⁿcalled to me,

‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—

^5owill he be angry forever,

will he be indignant to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken,

but you have done all the evil that you could.”

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

⁶The Lord said to me in the days of ^pKing Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, ^qhow she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there ⁱplayed the whore? ⁷And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous ^rsister Judah saw it. ⁸She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, ^sI had sent her away with ^ta decree of divorce. ^uYet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went ⁱand played the whore. ⁹Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with ^vstone and tree. ¹⁰Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me ^wwith her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to me, ^x“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward ^ythe north, and say,

^z“ ‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.

I will not look on you in anger,

for ^aI am merciful,

declares the Lord;

^bI will not be angry forever.

^13cOnly acknowledge your guilt,

that you rebelled against the Lord your God

and scattered your favors among foreigners under ^devery green tree,

and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

^14eReturn, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;

^ffor I am your master;

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

and I will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵“ ‘And ^gI will give you shepherds after my own heart, ^hwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. ¹⁷At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, ⁱand all nations shall gather to it, ^jto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. ^18kIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land ^lof the north to ^mthe land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

¹⁹“ ‘I said,

How I would set you among my sons,

and give you a pleasant land,

a heritage most beautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would ⁿcall me, My Father,

and would not turn from following me.

^20oSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,

so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’ ”

²¹A voice on the ^pbare heights is heard,

^qthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons

because they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God.

^22r“Return, O faithless sons;

^sI will heal your faithlessness.”

“Behold, we come to you,

for you are the Lord our God.

²³Truly ^tthe hills are a delusion,

the orgies² on the mountains.

^uTruly in the Lord our God

is the salvation of Israel.

²⁴“But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ^25vLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For ^wwe have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

4“If you return, O Israel,

declares the Lord,

^xto me you should return.

If you remove your detestable things from my presence,

^yand do not waver,

^2zand if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then ^anations shall bless themselves in him,

^band in him shall they glory.”

³For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

^c“Break up your fallow ground,

and ^dsow not among thorns.

^4eCircumcise yourselves to the Lord;

remove the foreskin of your hearts,

O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;

^flest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

^gbecause of the evil of your deeds.”