Jeremiah 3:11-22

Common English Bible

¹¹Then the Lord said to me: Unfaithful Israel is less guilty^[a] than disloyal Judah.

¹²Go proclaim these words to the north and say:

Return, unfaithful Israel,
        declares the Lord.
I won’t reject you,
    for I’m faithful,
        declares the Lord;
I won’t stay angry forever.
¹³Only acknowledge your wrongdoing:
    how you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
        and given yourself to strangers
            under every lush tree
        and haven’t obeyed me,
            declares the Lord.
¹⁴Return, rebellious children,
        declares the Lord,
    for I’m your husband.
I’ll gather you—
    one from a city and two from a tribe—
        and bring you back to Zion.

¹⁵I will appoint shepherds with whom I’m pleased, and they will lead you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶And in those days, when your numbers have greatly increased in the land, declares the Lord, people will no longer talk about the Lord’s covenant chest; they won’t recall or remember it; they won’t even miss it or try to build another one. ¹⁷At that time, they will call Jerusalem the Lord’s throne, and all nations will gather there to honor the Lord’s name. No longer will they follow their own willful and evil hearts. ¹⁸In those days the people of Judah and Israel will leave the north together for the land that I gave their ancestors as an inheritance.

¹⁹I thought to myself, How wonderful it would be
    to treat you like children
    and give you a beautiful land,
        an inheritance unrivaled among the nations.
And I thought, You will call me father,
    and you won’t turn away from me.
²⁰But as a woman betrays her lover,
    so you, people of Israel, have betrayed me,
        declares the Lord.
²¹A voice is heard on the well-traveled paths;^[b]
    it’s the crying and pleading of the people of Israel,
        who have lost their way
        and forgotten the Lord their God.
²²Return, rebellious children,
    and I will heal your rebellion.