Jeremiah 3:3–10

³Therefore the showers have been withheld,^l

and no spring rains^m have fallen.

Yet you have the brazenⁿ look of a prostitute;

you refuse to blush with shame.^o

⁴Have you not just called to me:

‘My Father,^p my friend from my youth,^q

⁵will you always be angry?^r

Will your wrath continue forever?’

This is how you talk,

but you do all the evil you can.”

Unfaithful Israel

⁶During the reign of King Josiah,^s the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless^t Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree^u and has committed adultery^v there. ⁷I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister^w Judah saw it.^{x 8}I gave faithless Israel^y her certificate of divorce^z and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear;^a she also went out and committed adultery. ⁹Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land^b and committed adultery^c with stone^d and wood.^{e 10}In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return^f to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,^g” declares the Lord.^h