6And the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, 'Have you seen what faithlessness Israel committed? She went upon every high mount and under every luxuriant tree and fornicated there.'7And I said, 'After she had done all these things, return to me,' yet she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.8And I saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery on all accounts, I sent her away and gave her a scroll of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear but went and fornicated also.9And from the voice of her fornication the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with the stone and with the tree.10And even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in deception, declares the LORD.11And the LORD said to me, 'Faithless Israel has justified her soul more than treacherous Judah.'12Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 'Return, faithlessness Israel, declares the LORD. I will not set my face against you, for I am merciful, declares the LORD; I will not be angry forever.'13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God and have scattered your ways to strangers under every luxuriant tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.14Return, O turning-back sons, declares the LORD, for I have married you, and I will take one from a city and two from a family and 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 shall come to pass that you will multiply and be fruitful in the land in those days, declares the LORD. They will no longer say, 'The ark of the covenant of the LORD,' nor will it come to mind, nor will they remember it or miss it, nor will it be made again.17At that time Jerusalem will be called the throne of the LORD, and all the nations will gather to her to the name of the LORD at Jerusalem, and they will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.18In those days the house of Judah will walk with 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 set you among children and give you a desirable land, a beautiful inheritance of the nations' armies?' And I said, 'You will call me, "My Father," and you will not turn away from following me.'20Surely as a woman acts treacherously against her neighbor, so you have acted treacherously against me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and supplications of the sons of Israel, because they have perverted their way and have forgotten the LORD their God.22Return, O turning-back sons; I will heal your faithlessness. Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God.23Surely the hills are a delusion, the multitude of mountains; surely 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 herds, their sons and their daughters.25We lie down in our shame, and our disgrace covers us, for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth until this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
Chapter 4
1If Israel returns, declares the LORD, return to me; and if you remove your abominations from before me and do not stray.2And you shall swear, 'As the LORD lives,' in truth, in justice, and in righteousness; then the nations shall bless themselves in him and in him they shall glory.3For thus says the LORD to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: 'Break up your fallow ground and do not sow among thorns.'4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest my wrath go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.