3 1 They say: If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be utterly defiled? You have prostituted yourself with many lovers — and yet you would return to me? declares your Father.
2 Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and look: where have you not been violated? By the roadsides you sat waiting for lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and your wickedness. 3 So the showers have been withheld, and the spring rains have not come. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed. 4 Have you not just now called out to me, "My Father, you are the friend of my youth 5 "Will he stay angry forever? Will he keep his wrath to the end? " This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.
Two Sisters Who Forgot Their Father
6 Our Father said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree, and there she has prostituted herself. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me, but she did not, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah had no fear; she too went and prostituted herself. 9 Because her prostitution meant so little to her, she defiled the land, committing adultery with stones and trees. 10 And in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense, declares your Father.
11 Our Father said to me: Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim this message toward the north: Return, faithless Israel, declares your Father. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares your Father; I will not stay angry forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt — that you rebelled against your Father, lavished your favors on strangers under every spreading tree, and did not obey my voice, declares your Father. 14 Return, you faithless children, declares your Father, for I am your husband. 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 And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares your Father, no one will say anymore, "The ark of the covenant of our Father." It will not come to mind, nor will it be remembered or missed, nor will another be made. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem the Throne of our Father, and all the nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of our Father. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from the land of the north to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance. 19 I myself said, "How gladly would I set you among my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation! " And I thought you would call me "My Father " and never turn away from following me. 20 But like a wife unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel, declares your Father.
21 A voice is heard on the barren heights — the weeping and pleading of Israel's children — because they have perverted their way and forgotten their Father. 22 "Return, you faithless children; I will heal your faithlessness. " "Here we are, we come to you, for you are our Father. 23 Surely the uproar on the hills and mountains is a delusion; surely in our Father is the salvation of Israel. 24 From our youth that shameful thing has devoured the fruit of our ancestors' labor — their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. For we have sinned against our Father — we and our ancestors — from our youth to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of our Father.