Jeremiah 3:1-14

English Standard Version

3 ^(A)“If^[a] a man divorces his wife
    and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
    will he return to her?
^(B)Would not that land be greatly polluted?
^(C)You have played the whore with many lovers;
    and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
²Lift up your eyes to ^(D)the bare heights, and see!
    Where have you not been ravished?
^(E)By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
    like an Arab in the wilderness.
^(F)You have polluted the land
    with your vile whoredom.
³^(G)Therefore the showers have been withheld,
    and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have ^(H)the forehead of a whore;
    you refuse to be ashamed.
⁴Have you not just now ^(I)called to me,
    ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
⁵^(J)will he be angry forever,
    will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
    but you have done all the evil that you could.”

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

⁶The Lord said to me in the days of ^(K)King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, ^(L)how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there ^(M)played the whore? ⁷And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous ^(N)sister Judah saw it. ⁸She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, ^(O)I had sent her away with ^(P)a decree of divorce. ^(Q)Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went ^(R)and played the whore. ⁹Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with ^(S)stone and tree. ¹⁰Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me ^(T)with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to me, ^(U)“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward ^(V)the north, and say,

^(W)“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
    for ^(X)I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
^(Y)I will not be angry forever.
¹³^(Z)Only acknowledge your guilt,
    that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under ^(AA)every green tree,
    and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
¹⁴^(AB)Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
    ^(AC)for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
    and I will bring you to Zion.