“Have I been a desert to Israel
    or a land of great darkness?^(A)
Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam;
    we will come to you no more’?^(B)
32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry,
    a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten^(C) me,
    days without number.
³³ How skilled you are at pursuing^(D) love!
    Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
³⁴ On your clothes is found
    the lifeblood^(E) of the innocent poor,
    though you did not catch them breaking in.^(F)
Yet in spite of all this
³⁵     you say, ‘I am innocent;^(G)
    he is not angry with me.’
But I will pass judgment^(H) on you
    because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’^(I)
36 Why do you go about so much,
    changing^(J) your ways?
You will be disappointed by Egypt^(K)
    as you were by Assyria.
³⁷ You will also leave that place
    with your hands on your head,^(L)
for the Lord has rejected those you trust;
    you will not be helped^(M) by them.

3 “If a man divorces^(N) his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?^(O)
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers^(P)—
    would you now return to me?”^(Q)
declares the Lord.
² “Look up to the barren heights^(R) and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside^(S) you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land^(T)
    with your prostitution^(U) and wickedness.
³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,^(V)
    and no spring rains^(W) have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen^(X) look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame.^(Y)
4 Have you not just called to me:
    ‘My Father,^(Z) my friend from my youth,^(AA)
5 will you always be angry?^(AB)
    Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
    but you do all the evil you can.”

“‘Return,^(AW) faithless^(AX) Israel,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’^(AY) declares the Lord,
    ‘I will not be angry^(AZ) forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge^(BA) your guilt—
    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods^(BB)
    under every spreading tree,^(BC)
    and have not obeyed^(BD) me,’”
declares the Lord.

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,^(BS)
    the most beautiful inheritance^(BT) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’^(BU)
    and not turn away from following me.
²⁰ But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful^(BV) to me,”
declares the Lord.

²¹ A cry is heard on the barren heights,^(BW)
    the weeping^(BX) and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
    and have forgotten^(BY) the Lord their God.

²² “Return,^(BZ) faithless people;
    I will cure^(CA) you of backsliding.”^(CB)

“Yes, we will come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
²³ Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills^(CC)
    and mountains is a deception;
surely in the Lord our God
    is the salvation^(CD) of Israel.
²⁴ From our youth shameful^(CE) gods have consumed
    the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—
their flocks and herds,
    their sons and daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,^(CF)
    and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned^(CG) against the Lord our God,
    both we and our ancestors;^(CH)
from our youth^(CI) till this day
    we have not obeyed^(CJ) the Lord our God.”

4 “If you, Israel, will return,^(CK)
    then return to me,”
declares the Lord.
“If you put your detestable idols^(CL) out of my sight
    and no longer go astray,
² and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
    you swear,^(CM) ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’^(CN)
then the nations will invoke blessings^(CO) by him
    and in him they will boast.^(CP)”

“Break up your unplowed ground^(CQ)
    and do not sow among thorns.^(CR)
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
    circumcise your hearts,^(CS)
    you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or my wrath^(CT) will flare up and burn like fire^(CU)
    because of the evil^(CV) you have done—
    burn with no one to quench^(CW) it.

⁷ A lion^(DD) has come out of his lair;^(DE)
    a destroyer^(DF) of nations has set out.
He has left his place
    to lay waste^(DG) your land.
Your towns will lie in ruins^(DH)
    without inhabitant.
⁸ So put on sackcloth,^(DI)
    lament^(DJ) and wail,
for the fierce anger^(DK) of the Lord
    has not turned away from us.

⁹ “In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “the king and the officials will lose heart,^(DL)
the priests will be horrified,
    and the prophets will be appalled.”^(DM)