1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and
become another man’s, will he return to her again? Won’t that land be greatly
polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return
again to me, says Yahweh. 2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and
see; where have you not been lain with? By the ways have you sat for them, as
an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your
prostitution and with your wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been
withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute’s
forehead, you refused to be ashamed. 4 Will you not from this time cry to
me, My Father, you are the guide of my youth? 5 Will he retain his
anger forever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and
have done evil things, and have had your way. 6 Moreover Yahweh said to me
in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel
has done? she is gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree,
and there has played the prostitute. 7 I said after she had done all these
things, She will return to me; but she didn’t return: and her treacherous
sister Judah saw it. 8 I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding
Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of
divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn’t fear; but she also went
and played the prostitute. 9 It happened through the lightness of her
prostitution, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with
stones and with stocks. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah
has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says
Yahweh. 11 Yahweh said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more
righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward
the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says Yahweh; I will not
look in anger on you; for I am merciful, says Yahweh, I will not keep
anger forever. 13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have
transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the
strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says
Yahweh. 14 Return, backsliding children, says Yahweh; for I am a husband
to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will
bring you to Zion: 15 and I will give you shepherds according to my heart,
who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 It shall come to
pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,
says Yahweh, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh;
neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall
they miss it; neither shall it be made any more. 17 At that time they
shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and all the nations shall be
gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk
any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the
house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come
together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an
inheritance to your fathers. 19 But I said, How I will put you among the
children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the
nations! and I said, You shall call me My Father, and shall not turn
away from following me. 20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her
husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel, says
Yahweh. 21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and
the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their
way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God. 22 Return, you backsliding
children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you
are Yahweh our God. 23 Truly in vain is the help that is looked
for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Yahweh our God
is the salvation of Israel. 24 But the shameful thing has devoured the
labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons
and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our
confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our
fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of
Yahweh our God.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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