Jeremiah 3:1–10

^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.”