Jeremiah 3

1They say, "If a man sends his wife away, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he return to her again? Would that land not become greatly defiled? But you have whored with many lovers; yet return to me," says Yahweh.

2Raise your eyes to the bare heights and see—where have you not been ravished? Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness, and you defiled the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.

3Showers were withheld, and there was no latter rain, yet you have a prostitute's forehead—you refuse to be ashamed.

4Won't you henceforth call to me, "My father, friend of my youth, you"?

5Will he bear a grudge forever? Will he guard it to the end? Look, I have spoken, you have spoken and done all the evil you could.

6Yahweh said to me in the days of King Josiah, "Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She went upon every high hill and under every flourishing tree, and you prostituted yourself there."

7I said after she had done all these things, "Return to me," but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw.

8I saw that for all the reasons backsliding Israel committed adultery, I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, did not fear but went and prostituted herself too.

9It came about because she took her prostitution so lightly that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

10Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with all her heart, but only in deceit, declares Yahweh.

11Yahweh said to me, "Backsliding Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah."

12Go and announce these words northward, and say, "Return, backsliding Israel," declares Yahweh; "I will not bring my anger down on you, for I am gracious," declares Yahweh; "I will not harbor anger forever."

13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you rebelled against Yahweh your God, that you scattered your ways to foreigners under every green tree, and that you did not heed my voice, declares Yahweh.

14Return, backsliding sons, declares Yahweh, for I have married you; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and bring you to Zion.

15I will give you shepherds after my heart who will shepherd you with knowledge and understanding.

16When you multiply and become fruitful in the land, in those days, declares Yahweh, they will no longer speak of the ark of Yahweh's covenant; it will not come to mind, they will not remember it, they will not seek it, nor will it be made anymore.

17At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh, and all the nations will gather to it, to the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem; they will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

18In those days the house of Judah will go with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I have given your fathers as an inheritance.

19I said, "How shall I set you among sons and give you a delightful land, a beautiful heritage of nations' hosts?" And I said, "You shall call me 'My Father,' and shall not turn back from following me."

20Surely, as a wife acts faithlessly against her husband, so have you acted faithlessly against me, house of Israel, declares Yahweh.

21A voice is heard on the bare heights: weeping and supplications of Israel's children, because they have made their way crooked and forgotten Yahweh their God.

22Turn back, you backsliding children; I will heal your backslidings. Here we are—we have come to you—for you are Yahweh our God.

23Truly from the hills comes only falsehood, the tumult of the mountains; truly Israel's salvation is in Yahweh our God.

24But shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our reproach cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God—we and our fathers—from our youth even until this day, and we have not heeded the voice of Yahweh our God.