1. “Now a man might divorce his wife.And she might leave him and marry another man.Should her first husband come back to her again?If he went back to her, the land would become completely unclean.But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers.And now you want to come back to me?” says the Lord.
2. “Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute?You have sat by the road waiting for lovers.You sat there like an Arab in the desert.You made the land unclean.This was because you did evil and were like a prostitute.
3. So the rain has not come.There have not been any spring rains.But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute.You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.
4. But now you are calling to me.You say, ‘My father, you have been my friend since I was young.
5. Will you always be angry at me?Will your anger last forever?’Judah, you say this,but you do as much evil as you can!”
6. When King Josiah was ruling Judah, the Lord spoke to me. He said: “Jeremiah, you saw what unfaithful Israel did. She was guilty of adultery. She had idols on every hill and under every green tree.
7. I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she does this evil.’ But she didn’t come back to me. And Israel’s wicked sister Judah saw what Israel did.
8. Unfaithful Israel knew that I divorced her because of her adultery. But that didn’t make her wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute!
9. And she didn’t care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country unclean. She was guilty of adultery. This was because she worshiped idols made of stone and wood.
10. Israel’s wicked sister didn’t come back to me with her whole heart. She only pretended to come back to me,” says the Lord.
11. The Lord said to me, “Unfaithful Israel had a better excuse than wicked Judah.
12. Go and speak this message toward the north:‘Come back, unfaithful people of Israel,’ says the Lord.‘I will stop frowning at you.I am full of mercy,’ says the Lord.‘I will not be angry with you forever.
13. All you have to do is admit your sin.You turned against the Lord your God.You worshiped the false gods of other nations.You worshiped them under every green tree.You didn’t obey me,’” says the Lord.