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Instructions for True Repentance

“Israel, if you return to me,”
declares the Lord,
“Return to me,
    remove your detestable idols from my presence,
        and don’t waver.
If you swear, ‘as surely as the Lord lives,’
    in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then nations will be blessed[a] by him,
    and in him they will boast.”
For this is what the Lord says
    to the men[b] of Judah and Jerusalem,
“Break up your unplowed ground,
    and don’t sow among thorns.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 4:2 Or bless themselves
  2. Jeremiah 4:3 Or people

“If you, Israel, will return,(A)
    then return to me,”
declares the Lord.
“If you put your detestable idols(B) out of my sight
    and no longer go astray,
and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
    you swear,(C) ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’(D)
then the nations will invoke blessings(E) by him
    and in him they will boast.(F)

This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground(G)
    and do not sow among thorns.(H)

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