CHAPTER 3
“If
a man
divorces
his wife
and she leaves
him
to marry
another,
can he ever
return
to her?
Would not
such
a land
be completely
defiled?
But you
have played the harlot
with many
lovers—
and you would return
to Me?"
declares
the LORD.
“Lift up
your eyes
to
the barren heights
and see.
Is there any place where
you have not
been violated?
You sat waiting
for your lovers
beside
the highways,
like a nomad
in the desert.
You have defiled
the land
with your prostitution
and wickedness.
Therefore the showers
have been withheld,
and no
spring rains
have fallen.
Yet you have
the brazen look
of a prostitute;
you refused
to be ashamed.
Will He be angry
forever?
Will He be indignant
to the end?’
This
you
have spoken,
but you keep doing
all the evil
you can.”
Now in the days
of King
Josiah,
the LORD
said
to me,
“Have you seen
what
faithless
Israel
has done?
She
has gone up
on
every
high
hill
and under
every
green
tree
to prostitute herself
there.
I thought
that after
she had done
all
these things,
she would return
to Me.
But she did not
return,
and her unfaithful
sister
Judah
saw it.
Because
faithless
Israel
had committed adultery,
I gave
her
a certificate
of divorce
and sent her away.
Yet I saw
that
her unfaithful
sister
Judah
had no
fear
and
prostituted herself as well.
Indifferent to
her immorality,
Israel had defiled
the land
and committed adultery
with stones
and trees.
Yet
in spite of all
this,
her unfaithful
sister
Judah
did not
return
to Me
with all
her heart,
but only
in pretense,”
declares
the LORD.
And the LORD
said
to me,
“Faithless
Israel
has shown herself
more righteous
than unfaithful
Judah.
Go,
proclaim
this
message
toward the north:
‘Return,
O faithless
Israel,’
declares
the LORD.
‘I will no longer
look on you with anger,
for
I am
merciful,’
declares
the LORD.
‘I will not
be angry
forever.
Only
acknowledge
your guilt,
that
you have rebelled
against the LORD
your God.
You have scattered
your favors
to foreign gods
under
every
green
tree
and have not
obeyed
My voice,’”
declares
the LORD.
“Return,
O faithless
children,”
declares
the LORD,
“for
I
am your master,
and I will take
you—
one
from a city
and two
from a family—
and bring
you
to Zion.
Then I will give
you
shepherds
after
My own heart,
who will feed
you with knowledge
and understanding.
In those
days,
when
you multiply
and increase
in the land,”
declares
the LORD,
“no
longer
will they say,
‘The ark
of the LORD’s
covenant.’
It will never
come
to
mind,
and no
one will remember it
or miss it,
nor
will another one
be made.
At that
time
Jerusalem
will be called
The Throne
of the LORD,
and all
the nations
will be gathered
in Jerusalem
to honor
the name
of the LORD.
They will no longer
follow
the stubbornness
of their evil
hearts.
In those
days
the house
of Judah
will walk
with
the house
of Israel,
and they will come
together
from the land
of the north
to
the land
I have given your ancestors
as an inheritance.
Then I
said,
‘How
I long to make you
My sons
and give
you a desirable
land,
the most beautiful
inheritance
of all
the nations.’
I thought
you would call Me
‘Father’
and never
turn away
from following Me.
But
as a woman
may betray
her husband,
so
you have betrayed Me,
O house
of Israel,”
declares
the LORD.
A voice
is heard
on
the barren heights,
the children
of Israel
weeping
and begging for mercy,
because
they have perverted
their ways
and forgotten
the LORD
their God.
“Return,
O faithless
children,
and I will heal
your faithlessness.”
“Here we are.
We come to You,
for
You
are the LORD
our God.
Surely
deception
comes from the hills,
commotion
from the mountains,
but surely
the salvation
of Israel
is in the LORD
our God.
From our youth,
that shameful god
has consumed
what our fathers
have worked for—
their flocks
and herds,
their sons
and daughters.
Let us lie down
in our shame;
let our disgrace
cover us.
We have sinned
against the LORD
our God,
both we
and our fathers;
from our youth
even to
this
day
we have not
obeyed
the voice
of the LORD
our God.”