6And the LORD said to me, in the days of Josiah the king, "Have you seen what backsliding Israel did? She went on every high hill and under every lush tree, and she played the harlot there."7And I said, after she had done all these things, "You will return to me," but she did not return. And her sister Judah saw it in her betrayal.8And I saw that for all the causes for which she committed adultery, I sent away backsliding Israel and gave her a scroll of divorce; but her sister Judah did not fear. She went and played the harlot also.9And it was because of the staff of her prostitution that she profaned the land, and she committed adultery with stone and tree.10And even in all this she did not return to me—her faithless sister Judah—with all her heart, but only in falsehood, says the LORD.11And the LORD said to me, "Righteousness is more to her soul than the return of Israel than the betrayal of Judah."12Go and call out these words toward the north and say, "Return, O backsliding Israel," declares the LORD. "I will not cause my face to fall against you, for I am steadfast love," declares the LORD. "I will not be angry forever."13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that your transgression is against the LORD your God, and you have scattered your ways to the foreigners under every lush tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.14Return, O backsliding sons, says the LORD, for I have lorded over you; and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.15And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and understanding.16And it will be, when you multiply and are fruitful in the land in those days, says the LORD: "They will say no more, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD,' nor will it come to their heart, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made anymore."17At that time they will call Jerusalem "the throne of the LORD," and all the nations will stream to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.18In those days the house of Judah will go to the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers to inherit.19And I said, "How can I put you among the sons and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful inheritance of the hosts of nations?" And you said, "You will call me, 'My father,' and you will not turn away from me."20Indeed, a woman betrays from her moral evil; so you have betrayed me, house of Israel, says the LORD.21A voice is heard on the bare heights—weeping, supplications of the sons of Israel, for they have made their way crooked; they have forgotten the LORD their God.22Return, rebellious sons; I will heal your rebellions. Here we are, to you, for you are the LORD our God.23Truly, from the hills comes a lie, the tumult of the mountains. Truly, in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.24And shame has devoured the toil of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their cattle, their sons and their daughters.25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our reproach cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God—we and our fathers, from our youth even until this day—and we have not listened to the voice of the LORD our God.
4
Chapter 4
1If you return, Israel, declares the LORD to me—if you return, and if you remove your abominations from my face and do not waver.2And you shall swear, "As the LORD lives," in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; and nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him they shall praise.3For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: Plow for yourselves a plowing, and do not sow toward thorns.4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my anger go out like fire and burn with none to extinguish it because of the evil of your deeds.