²⁰ But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel!
    You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.
    I, the Lord, have spoken.”

“O Israel, my faithless people,
    come home to me again,
for I am merciful.
    I will not be angry with you forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt.
    Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and committed adultery against him
    by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

¹⁴ “Return home, you wayward children,”
    says the Lord,
    “for I am your master.
I will bring you back to the land of Israel^[b]—
    one from this town and two from that family—
    from wherever you are scattered.

3 “If a man divorces a woman
    and she goes and marries someone else,
he will not take her back again,
    for that would surely corrupt the land.
But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
    so why are you trying to come back to me?”
    says the Lord.
² “Look at the shrines on every hilltop.
    Is there any place you have not been defiled
    by your adultery with other gods?
You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.
    You sit alone like a nomad in the desert.
You have polluted the land with your prostitution
    and your wickedness.
³ That’s why even the spring rains have failed.
    For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.
⁴ Yet you say to me,
    ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.

¹⁸ Where is another God like you,
    who pardons the guilt of the remnant,
    overlooking the sins of his special people?
You will not stay angry with your people forever,
    because you delight in showing unfailing love.
¹⁹ Once again you will have compassion on us.
    You will trample our sins under your feet
    and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
²⁰ You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love
    as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago.

²⁰ “Is not Israel still my son,
    my darling child?” says the Lord.
“I often have to punish him,
    but I still love him.
That’s why I long for him
    and surely will have mercy on him.

²² Let all the world look to me for salvation!
    For I am God; there is no other.