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.
14. “Come back to me, you unfaithful people,” says the Lord. “I am your husband. I will take one person from every city. And I will take two people from every family group. And I will bring you to Jerusalem.
15. Then I will give you new rulers. They will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
16. In those days there will be many of you in the land,” says the Lord. “At that time people will no longer say, ‘I remember the Ark of the Covenant.’ They won’t even think about the Ark of the Covenant anymore. They won’t even remember or miss it or make another one.
17. At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the Lord. All nations will come together in Jerusalem to show respect to the Lord. They will not follow their stubborn, evil hearts anymore.