Jeremiah
3
- "If a man divorces his wife and she
leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not
the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many
lovers--would you now return to me?" declares the LORD.
- "Look up to the barren heights and
see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside
you sat waiting for lovers, sat 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 refuse to blush with shame.
- Have you not just called to me: 'My Father,
my friend from my youth,
- will you always be angry? Will your wrath
continue forever?' This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can."
- During the reign 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 spreading tree and has committed adultery
there.
- I thought that after she had done all this
she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw
it.
- I gave faithless Israel her certificate
of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that
her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.
- Because Israel's immorality mattered so
little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and
wood.
- 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.
- The LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel
is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
- Go, proclaim this message toward the north:
"'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD, 'I will frown on you
no longer, for I am merciful,' declares the LORD, 'I will not be angry forever.
- Only acknowledge your guilt -- you have
rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign
gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,'" declares the
LORD.
- "Return, faithless people," declares
the LORD, "for I am your husband. I will choose you -- one from a town
and two from a clan -- and bring you to Zion.
- Then I will give you shepherds after my
own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
- In those days, when your numbers have increased
greatly in the land," declares the LORD, "men will no longer say,
'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.' It will never enter their minds or
be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
- At that time they will call Jerusalem The
Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the
name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil
hearts.
- In those days the house of Judah will join
the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the
land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.
- "I myself said, "'How gladly would
I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance
of any nation.' I thought you would call me 'Father' and not turn away from
following me.
- But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel," declares the LORD.
- A cry is heard on the barren heights, the
weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted
their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God.
- "Return, faithless people; I will cure
you of backsliding." "Yes, we will come to you, for you are the
LORD our God.
- Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills
and mountains is a deception; surely in the LORD our God is the salvation
of Israel.
- From our youth shameful gods have consumed
the fruits of our fathers' labor -- their flocks and herds, their sons and
daughters.
- Let us lie down in our shame, and let our
disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our
fathers; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God."
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