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Sin and Shame

The Lord said to the people of Israel:

If a divorced woman marries,
can her first husband
    ever marry her again?
No, because this
    would pollute the land.
But you have more gods
than a prostitute has lovers.
    Why should I take you back?
Just try to find one hilltop
    where you haven't gone
to worship other gods
    by having sex.[a]
You sat beside the road
    like a robber in ambush,
except you offered yourself
    to every passerby.
Your sins of unfaithfulness
    have polluted the land.
So I, the Lord, refused
    to let the spring rains fall.
But just like a prostitute,
you still have no shame
    for what you have done.

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Footnotes

  1. 3.2 hilltop … sex: See the note at 2.20.

“If a man divorces(A) his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?(B)
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers(C)
    would you now return to me?”(D)
declares the Lord.
“Look up to the barren heights(E) and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside(F) you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land(G)
    with your prostitution(H) and wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withheld,(I)
    and no spring rains(J) have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen(K) look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame.(L)

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