¹ If a man divorces his wife^(A)
    and she leaves him
    and then becomes the wife of another,
Can she return to the first?^[a]
    Would not this land be wholly defiled?
But you have played the prostitute with many lovers,
    and yet you would return to me!—oracle of the Lord.
² Raise your eyes to the heights, and look,
    where have men not lain with you?
Along the roadways you waited for them
    like an Arabian^[b] in the wilderness.
You defiled the land
    by your wicked prostitution.^(B)
3 Therefore the showers were withheld,
    the spring rain did not fall.
But because you have a prostitute’s brow,
    you refused to be ashamed.^(C)
4 Even now do you not call me, “My father,
    you are the bridegroom of my youth?
⁵ Will he keep his wrath forever,
    will he hold his grudge to the end?”
This is what you say; yet you do
    all the evil you can.

¹⁹ I thought:
    How I would like to make you my children!
So I gave you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful heritage among the nations!
You would call me, “My Father,” I thought,
    and you would never turn away from me.^(N)
20 But like a woman faithless to her lover,
    thus have you been faithless to me,
    house of Israel—oracle of the Lord.^(O)
21 A cry is heard on the heights!
    the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
Because they have perverted their way,
    they have forgotten the Lord, their God.
²² Return, rebellious children!
    I will heal your rebellions.
“Here we are! We belong to you,
    for you are the Lord, our God.^(P)
23 Deceptive indeed are the hills,
    the mountains, clamorous;
Only in the Lord our God
    is Israel’s salvation.^(Q)
24 The shameful thing^[d] has devoured
    our ancestors’ worth from our youth,
Their sheep and cattle,
    their sons and daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,
    let our disgrace cover us,
    for we have sinned against the Lord, our God,
We and our ancestors, from our youth to this day;
    we did not listen to the voice of the Lord, our God.”^(R)

¹ If you return, Israel—oracle of the Lord—
    return to me.
If you put your detestable things out of my sight,
    and do not stray,^(S)
2 And swear, “As the Lord lives,”^[e]
    in truth, in judgment, and in justice,
Then the nations shall bless themselves in him
    and in him glory.^(T)

⁵ Proclaim it in Judah,
    in Jerusalem announce it;
Blow the trumpet throughout the land,
    call out, “Fill the ranks!”
Say, “Assemble, let us march
    to the fortified cities.”
⁶ Raise the signal—to Zion!
    Seek refuge! Don’t stand there!
Disaster I bring from the north,
    and great destruction.
⁷ Up comes the lion from its lair,
    the destroyer of nations has set out,
    has left its place,
To turn your land into a desolation,
    your cities into an uninhabited waste.^(W)
8 So put on sackcloth,
    mourn and wail:
“The blazing anger of the Lord
    has not turned away from us.”^(X)
9     In that day—oracle of the Lord—
The king will lose heart, and the princes;
    the priests will be horrified,
    and the prophets stunned.
¹⁰ “Ah! Lord God,” they will say,
    “You really did deceive^[g] us
When you said: You shall have peace,
    while the sword was at our very throats.”^(Y)
11 At that time it will be said
    to this people and to Jerusalem,
A scorching wind from the bare heights comes
    through the wilderness toward my daughter, the people.^[h]
Not to winnow, not to cleanse,
¹²     a strong wind from there comes at my bidding.
Now I too pronounce
    sentence upon them.^(Z)
13 See! like storm clouds he advances,
    like a whirlwind, his chariots;
Swifter than eagles, his horses:
    “Woe to us! we are ruined.”
¹⁴ Cleanse your heart of evil, Jerusalem,
    that you may be saved.
How long will you entertain
    wicked schemes?
¹⁵ A voice proclaims it from Dan,
    announces wickedness from Mount Ephraim:
¹⁶ “Make this known to the nations,
    announce it against Jerusalem:
Besiegers are coming from the distant land,
    shouting their war cry against the cities of Judah.”^(AA)
17 Like watchers in the fields they surround her,
    for she has rebelled against me—oracle of the Lord.^(AB)
18 Your conduct, your deeds, have done this to you;
    how bitter is this evil of yours,
    how it reaches to your very heart!^(AC)
19 My body! my body! how I writhe!^[i]
    The walls of my heart!
My heart beats wildly,
    I cannot be still;
For I myself have heard the blast of the horn,
    the battle cry.
²⁰ Ruin upon ruin is reported;
    the whole land is laid waste.
In an instant my tents are ravaged;
    in a flash, my shelters.^(AD)
21 How long must I see the signal,
    hear the blast of the horn!
²² My people are fools,
    they do not know me;
They are senseless children,
    without understanding;
They are wise at evil,
    but they do not know how to do good.^(AE)
23 I looked at the earth—it was waste and void;
    at the heavens—their light had gone out!^(AF)
24 I looked at the mountains—they were quaking!
    All the hills were crumbling!
²⁵ I looked—there was no one;
    even the birds of the air had flown away!
²⁶ I looked—the garden land was a wilderness,
    with all its cities destroyed
    before the Lord, before his blazing anger.^(AG)
27     For thus says the Lord:
The whole earth shall be waste,
    but I will not wholly destroy it.^(AH)
28 Because of this the earth shall mourn,
    the heavens above shall darken;
I have spoken, I will not change my mind,
    I have decided, I will not turn back.^(AI)
29 At the shout of rider and archer
    each city takes to flight;
They shrink into the thickets,
    they scale the rocks:
All the cities are abandoned,
    no one lives in them.
³⁰ You now who are doomed, what are you doing
    dressing in purple,
    bedecking yourself with gold,
Enlarging your eyes with kohl?
    You beautify yourself in vain!
Your lovers reject you,
    they seek your life.
³¹ Yes, I hear the cry, like that of a woman in labor,
    like the anguish of a mother bearing her first child—
The cry of daughter Zion gasping,
    as she stretches out her hands:
“Ah, woe is me! I sink exhausted
    before my killers!”^(AJ)

¹ Do not be jealous of the wife of your bosom,
    lest you teach her to do evil against you.^[b]
2 Do not give a woman power over you
    to trample on your dignity.^(A)
3 Do not go near a strange woman,
    lest you fall into her snares.
⁴ Do not dally with a singer,
    lest you be captivated by her charms.
⁵ Do not entertain any thoughts about a virgin,
    lest you be enmeshed in damages for her.^[c]
6 Do not give yourself to a prostitute
    lest you lose your inheritance.^(B)
7 Do not look around the streets of the city
    or wander through its squares.
⁸ Avert your eyes from a shapely woman;
    do not gaze upon beauty that is not yours;
Through woman’s beauty many have been ruined,
    for love of it burns like fire.^(C)
9 Never recline at table with a married woman,
    or drink intoxicants with her,
Lest your heart be drawn to her
    and you go down in blood^[d] to the grave.

¹⁰ Do not abandon old friends;
    new ones cannot equal them.
A new friend is like new wine—
    when it has aged, you drink it with pleasure.
¹¹ Do not envy the wicked
    for you do not know when their day will come.
¹² Do not delight in the pleasures of the ungodly;
    remember, they will not die unpunished.

¹⁷ Work by skilled hands will earn praise;
    but the people’s leader is proved wise by his words.
¹⁸ Loud mouths are feared in their city,
    and whoever is reckless in speech is hated.