Jeremiah 3:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Unfaithful Israel
3 If[a] a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
You have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
and would you return to me?
says the Lord.(A)
Footnotes
- 3.1 Gk Syr: Heb Saying, If
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Laws concerning Marriage and Divorce
24 “Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; 2 she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man’s wife.(A) 3 Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies): 4 her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.(B)
Read full chapter
Ezekiel 16:26
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
26 You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors,[a] multiplying your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.(A)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 16.26 Heb large-membered neighbors
Hosea 14:1-4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Plea for Repentance
14 Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,
for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.(A)
2 Take words with you
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept that which is good,
and we will offer
the fruit[a] of our lips.(B)
3 Assyria shall not save us;
we will not ride upon horses;
we will say no more, ‘Our God,’
to the work of our hands.
In you the orphan finds mercy.”(C)
Assurance of Forgiveness
4 I will heal their disloyalty;
I will love them freely,
for my anger has turned from them.(D)
Footnotes
- 14.2 Gk Syr: Heb bulls
Hosea 2:5-7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 For their mother has prostituted herself;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will go after my lovers;
they give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”(A)
6 Therefore I will hedge up her[a] way with thorns,
and I will build a wall against her
so that she cannot find her paths.(B)
7 She shall pursue her lovers
but not overtake them,
and she shall seek them
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, “I will go
and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than now.”(C)
Footnotes
- 2.6 Gk Syr: Heb your
Ezekiel 23:4-49
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.(A)
5 Oholah prostituted herself while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors[a](B) 6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen. 7 She bestowed her sexual favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted.(C) 8 She did not give up her prostitutions that she had practiced since Egypt, for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.(D) 9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.(E) 10 These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.(F)
11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her prostitutions, which were worse than those of her sister.(G) 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors[b] clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men.(H) 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her prostitutions further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,(I) 15 with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust, and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her prostitutions so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister.(J) 19 Yet she increased her prostitutions, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.(K) 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians[c] fondled your bosom and caressed[d] your young breasts.(L)
22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:(M) 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and select leaders, all of them riding on horses.(N) 24 They shall come against you from the north[e] with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances.(O) 25 I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels.(P) 27 So I will put an end to your lewdness and your prostitution brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them or remember Egypt any more.(Q) 28 For thus says the Lord God: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your prostitutions shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your prostitutions(R) 30 have brought this upon you, because you prostituted yourself with the nations and polluted yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:
You shall drink your sister’s cup,
deep and wide;
it will bring scorn and derision;
it holds so much.(S)
33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation
is the cup of your sister Samaria;
34 you shall drink it and drain it out
and gnaw its sherds
and tear out your breasts,
for I have spoken, says the Lord God.(T) 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitutions.(U)
36 The Lord said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds.(V) 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.(W) 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.(X)
40 They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments;(Y) 41 you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.(Z) 42 The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness, and they put bracelets on the arms of the women and beautiful crowns upon their heads.(AA)
43 Then I said, “Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her.” 44 They have[f] gone in to her as one goes in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women. 45 But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.(AB)
46 For thus says the Lord God: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder. 47 The assembly shall stone them, and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters and burn up their houses.(AC) 48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.(AD) 49 They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord God.
Read full chapter
Ezekiel 16:28-29
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
28 You prostituted yourself with the Assyrians because you were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them, and still you were not satisfied.(A) 29 You multiplied your prostitution with Chaldea, the land of merchants, and even with this you were not satisfied.(B)
Read full chapter
Jeremiah 4:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 If you return, O Israel,
says the Lord,
if you return to me,
if you remove your abominations from my presence
and do not waver,(A)
Jeremiah 2:20
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 For long ago you broke your yoke
and burst your bonds,
and you said, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree
you sprawled and prostituted yourself.(A)
Deuteronomy 4:29-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
29 From there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul.(A) 30 In your distress, when all these things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to the Lord your God and heed him. 31 Because the Lord your God is a merciful God, he will neither abandon you nor destroy you; he will not forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.(B)
Read full chapter
Luke 15:16-24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
16 He would gladly have filled his stomach[a] with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’ 20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.(A) 21 Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b](B) 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.(C) 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, 24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.(D)
Read full chapter
Zechariah 1:3
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
3 Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.(A)
Read full chapter
Hosea 1:2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Family of Hosea
2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and have children of prostitution, for the land commits great prostitution by forsaking the Lord.”(A)
Read full chapter
Ezekiel 33:11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
11 Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?(A)
Read full chapter
Jeremiah 8:4-6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Blind Perversity of the Whole Nation
4 You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
When people fall, do they not get up again?
If they go astray, do they not turn back?(A)
5 Why then has this people[a] turned away
in perpetual faithlessness?
They have held fast to deceit;
they have refused to return.(B)
6 I have given heed and listened,
but they do not speak honestly;
no one repents of wickedness,
saying, “What have I done!”
All of them turn to their own course
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.(C)
Footnotes
- 8.5 Heb ms Gk: MT this people, Jerusalem,
Jeremiah 4:14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness
so that you may be saved.
How long shall your evil schemes
lodge within you?(A)
Jeremiah 3:9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.(A)
Read full chapter
Jeremiah 2:23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
23 How can you say, “I am not defiled;
I have not gone after the Baals”?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done:
a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,(A)
Isaiah 55:6-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;(A)
7 let the wicked forsake their way
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.(B)
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.(C)