Jeremiah 3

1 “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.

2 “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.

4 Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

5 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.”

6 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.

7 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.

8 She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.

9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

10 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.

11 And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah.

12 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.

13 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.

14 “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.

15 Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

16 “In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.

17 At that time they will call Jerusalem 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.

18 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 that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.

19 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.

20 But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

21 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.

22 “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

23 Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.

24 From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.

25 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.”

1 ¶ They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.

2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou [art] the guide of my youth?

5 Will he reserve [his anger] for ever? will he keep [it] to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.

6 ¶ The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

7 And I said after she had done all these [things], Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw [it].

8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

12 ¶ Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I [am] merciful, saith the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for ever.

13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto 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 pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

16 And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit [it]; neither shall [that] be done any more.

17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination 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 have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

19 But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.

20 ¶ Surely [as] a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping [and] supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, [and] they have forgotten the LORD their God.

22 Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou [art] the LORD our God.

23 Truly in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the hills, [and from] the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel.

24 For shame hath devoured the labour 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 covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

6 And the LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou also seen what Israel the apostate hath done? She went up into all the high mountains, and under every green tree, and committed whoredom there.

7 And when she had done all these things, I said, Turn thou unto me. But she turned not. And though her sister Judah the hardened saw,

8 As I have punished adultery against Israel the apostate, and have forsaken her, and have given her a bill of divorcement: yet her sister Judah, which is hardened, feareth not, but goeth and committeth whoredom also.

9 And the land is polluted with the cry of her fornication: for she committeth adultery with stones and with wood;

10 And in all this Judah her sister, which is hardened, turneth not unto me with her whole heart, but feigneth herself thus, saith the LORD.

11 And the LORD said unto me, The apostate Israel is righteous against the stubborn Judah.

12 Go thy way, and preach toward the north, saying, Return, thou apostate Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not hide my face from you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and will not be angry for ever.

13 Only know thine iniquity, that thou hast sinned against the LORD thy God, and hast run to and fro unto strange gods among all the green trees, and hast not hearkened unto my voice, saith the LORD.

14 Turn ye, O ye apostate children, saith the LORD; for I will trust you unto me, and will fetch you, and one shall lead a whole city, and two a whole land; and I will bring you unto Zion.

15 And I will give you shepherds after mine own heart, which shall feed you with doctrine and wisdom.

16 And it shall come to pass, when ye are increased, and your number is increased in the land, that, saith the LORD, in that day they shall speak no more of the ark of the covenant of the LORD, neither shall they remember it, nor preach of it, nor visit it, nor sacrifice there any more,

17 But in that day shall Jerusalem be called the throne of the LORD: and there shall all the heathen be gathered together unto Jerusalem for the name of the LORD, and shall walk no more after the thoughts of their evil heart.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the house of Judah shall go unto the house of Israel, and shall come together from the north unto the land which I gave unto your fathers for an inheritance.

19 And I say unto thee, How will I give thee so many children, and the good land, the goodly inheritance, even the host of the heathen? And I say unto thee, Thou shalt then call me..: And thou shalt not depart from me.

20 But the house of Israel regardeth me not, as a woman regardeth not her husband, saith the LORD.

21 Therefore there shall be heard a mourning and a weeping of the children of Israel in the high places, because they have done evil, and have forgotten the LORD their God.

22 Return therefore, ye apostate children, and I will heal you of your disobedience. Behold, we come unto thee: for thou art the LORD our God.

23 Verily it is all deceitfulness with hills, and with all mountains. Verily Israel hath no help but in the LORD our God.

24 And let the labours of our fathers, which we have kept from our youth, perish with shame, with their flocks, and their herds, and their children, and their daughters.

25 For that which we trusted in is now a reproach unto us: and that which we trusted in we are now ashamed of. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.