1. ‘If a man divorces his wifeand she leaves him and marries another man,should he return to her again?Would not the land be completely defiled?But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers –would you now return to me?’declares the Lord.
2. ‘Look up to the barren heights and see.Is there any place where you have not been ravished?By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,sat like a nomad in the desert.You have defiled the landwith your prostitution and wickedness.
3. Therefore the showers have been withheld,and no spring rains have fallen.Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;you refuse to blush with shame.
4. Have you not just called to me:“My Father, my friend from my youth,
5. will you always be angry?Will your wrath continue for ever?”This is how you talk,but you do all the evil you can.’
6. During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, ‘Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.
7. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.