 1 They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him to be for another man, will he return to her again? Would that land not be greatly defiled? But you play the harlot with many lovers. Yet come back to me, says the Lord. 2 Lift up your eyes to the high places and see. Where have you not been defiled+? You have sat by the highways waiting for them like an Arab in the wilderness. You have defiled the land with your fornications and with your wickedness. 3 Therefore the rain+ has been withheld and there has been no latter rain. You had a harlot's forehead but you refused to be ashamed. 4 Will you not from this time cry out to me, My father, you are the guide of my youth? 5 Will He reserve His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end? You have spoken and done all the evil things as you could. 6 The Lord also said to me in the days of King Josiah, Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree and played the adulterer+. 7 I said after she had done all these things, Turn to me. But she did not return. Her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 I saw that for all of the backsliding in which Israel committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but also played the adulterer+. 9 Through the folly+ of her adultery, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and stocks. 10 Yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, says the Lord. 11 The Lord said to me, Backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and cry out these words toward the north and say, Return, O backsliding Israel, says the Lord. Then I will not cause my anger to fall on you. For I am merciful, says the Lord and I will not keep anger forever. 13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have sinned against the Lord your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree. You have not obeyed my voice, says the Lord. 14 Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord. For I am married to you. I will take you one from a city and two from a family and I will bring you to Zion. 15 I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In those days, when you have multiplied and increased in the land, says the Lord, they will no longer speak about the ark of the covenant of the Lord. It will not come to mind nor will they remember it, nor will they visit it, nor will that be done any more. 17 At that time, they will call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. All nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. Nor will they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel. They will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers. 19 I said, How shall I put you among the children and give you a pleasant land, a good heritage among the hosts of nations? I said, You shall call me father and not turn away from me. 20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the Lord. 21 A voice was heard on the high places weeping with the supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way and forgotten the Lord their God. 22 Return, O backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to you for you are the Lord our God. 23 In vain salvation is hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of idols on the mountains. Yet truly, the salvation of Israel is in the Lord our God. 24 Shame has eaten up the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 We lie down in our shame and our confusion covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God. We and our fathers have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God from our youth even to this day.
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