Jer 3
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? will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have
played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, says YHWH.
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 whoredoms and with your wickedness.
3
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there has been no latter rain; yet
you have a harlot`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] for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have
spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.
6
Moreover YHWH said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which
backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every
green tree, and there has played the harlot.
7
And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me; but she returned
not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8
And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery,
I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her
sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot.
9
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted,
and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her
whole heart, but feignedly, says YHWH.
11
And YHWH said to me, Backsliding Israel has showed herself more righteous than treacherous
Judah.
12
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel,
says YHWH; I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, says YHWH, I will
not keep [anger] for ever.
13
Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against YHWH your God,
and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have
not obeyed my voice, says YHWH.
14
Return, O backsliding children, says YHWH; 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
And it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those
days, says YHWH, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of YHWH; 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 YHWH; and all the nations shall
be gathered to it, to the name of YHWH, 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, O house of Israel, says YHWH.
21
A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping [and] the supplications of the
children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten YHWH
their God.
22
Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we are come
to you; for you are YHWH our God.
23
Truly in vain is [the help that is looked for] from the hills, the tumult on the mountains:
truly in YHWH 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
YHWH our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not
obeyed the voice of YHWH our God.