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? Would not that land be utterly polluted? But thou hast committed fornication with many lovers; yet return to me, saith Jehovah.
Lift up thine eyes unto the heights and see, where hast thou not been lain with? In the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arab in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications and with thy wickedness.
And the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; but thou hast a harlot’s forehead, thou refusest to be ashamed.
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
Will he keep his anger for ever? Will he preserve it perpetually? Behold, thou hast spoken and hast done evil things, and thou art so determined.
And Jehovah said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel hath done? She hath gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath committed fornication.
And I said, After she hath done all these things, she will return unto me; but she returned not. And her sister Judah, the treacherous, saw it.
And I saw that when for all the causes wherein backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce, yet the treacherous Judah, her sister, feared not, but went and committed fornication also.
And it came to pass through the lightness of her fornication that she polluted the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
And even for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, saith Jehovah.
And Jehovah said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath shown herself more just than treacherous Judah.
Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, and I will not keep anger forever.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah.
Turn, O backsliding children, saith Jehovah, 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:
and I will give you pastors, according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
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.
And as for me, I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee the pleasant land, the goodly inheritance of the hosts of the nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from following me.
Surely as a woman treacherously departeth from her companion, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah.
A voice is heard upon the heights, the weeping supplications of the children of Israel; for they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God.
—Return, backsliding children; I will heal your backslidings. ...Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God.
Truly in vain is salvation looked for from the hills, and the multitude of mountains; truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
But shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not hearkened to the voice of Jehovah our God.