Jeremiah 3

New International Version

3 “If a man divorces^(A) his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?^(B)
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers^(C)—
    would you now return to me?”^(D)
declares the Lord.
²“Look up to the barren heights^(E) and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside^(F) you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land^(G)
    with your prostitution^(H) and wickedness.
³Therefore the showers have been withheld,^(I)
    and no spring rains^(J) have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen^(K) look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame.^(L)
⁴Have you not just called to me:
    ‘My Father,^(M) my friend from my youth,^(N)
⁵will you always be angry?^(O)
    Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
    but you do all the evil you can.”

Unfaithful Israel

⁶During the reign of King Josiah,^(P) the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless^(Q) Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree^(R) and has committed adultery^(S) there. ⁷I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister^(T) Judah saw it.^(U) ⁸I gave faithless Israel^(V) her certificate of divorce^(W) and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear;^(X) she also went out and committed adultery. ⁹Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land^(Y) and committed adultery^(Z) with stone^(AA) and wood.^(AB) ¹⁰In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return^(AC) to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,^(AD)” declares the Lord.^(AE)

¹¹The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous^(AF) than unfaithful^(AG) Judah.^(AH) ¹²Go, proclaim this message toward the north:^(AI)

“‘Return,^(AJ) faithless^(AK) Israel,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’^(AL) declares the Lord,
    ‘I will not be angry^(AM) forever.
¹³Only acknowledge^(AN) your guilt—
    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods^(AO)
    under every spreading tree,^(AP)
    and have not obeyed^(AQ) me,’”
declares the Lord.

¹⁴“Return,^(AR) faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband.^(AS) I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵Then I will give you shepherds^(AT) after my own heart,^(AU) who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark^(AV) of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered;^(AW) it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. ¹⁷At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne^(AX) of the Lord, and all nations^(AY) will gather in Jerusalem to honor^(AZ) the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.^(BA) ¹⁸In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel,^(BB) and together^(BC) they will come from a northern^(BD) land to the land^(BE) I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.

¹⁹“I myself said,

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,^(BF)
    the most beautiful inheritance^(BG) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’^(BH)
    and not turn away from following me.
²⁰But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful^(BI) to me,”
declares the Lord.

²¹A cry is heard on the barren heights,^(BJ)
the weeping^(BK) and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
and have forgotten^(BL) the Lord their God.

²²“Return,^(BM) faithless people;
I will cure^(BN) you of backsliding.”^(BO)

“Yes, we will come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
²³Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills^(BP)
    and mountains is a deception;
surely in the Lord our God
    is the salvation^(BQ) of Israel.
²⁴From our youth shameful^(BR) gods have consumed
    the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—
their flocks and herds,
    their sons and daughters.
²⁵Let us lie down in our shame,^(BS)
    and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned^(BT) against the Lord our God,
    both we and our ancestors;^(BU)
from our youth^(BV) till this day
    we have not obeyed^(BW) the Lord our God.”

Hosea 2

New International Version

2 ^[a]“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’^(A)

Israel Punished and Restored

²“Rebuke your mother,^(B) rebuke her,
    for she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous^(C) look from her face
    and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
³Otherwise I will strip^(D) her naked
    and make her as bare as on the day she was born;^(E)
I will make her like a desert,^(F)
    turn her into a parched land,
    and slay her with thirst.
⁴I will not show my love to her children,^(G)
    because they are the children of adultery.^(H)
⁵Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,^(I)
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’^(J)
⁶Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.^(K)
⁷She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.^(L)
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband^(M) as at first,^(N)
    for then I was better off^(O) than now.’
⁸She has not acknowledged^(P) that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,^(Q)
who lavished on her the silver and gold^(R)—
    which they used for Baal.^(S)

⁹“Therefore I will take away my grain^(T) when it ripens,
    and my new wine^(U) when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
    intended to cover her naked body.
¹⁰So now I will expose^(V) her lewdness
    before the eyes of her lovers;^(W)
    no one will take her out of my hands.^(X)
¹¹I will stop^(Y) all her celebrations:^(Z)
    her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
    her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.^(AA)
¹²I will ruin her vines^(AB) and her fig trees,^(AC)
    which she said were her pay from her lovers;^(AD)
I will make them a thicket,^(AE)
    and wild animals will devour them.^(AF)
¹³I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense^(AG) to the Baals;^(AH)
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,^(AI)
    and went after her lovers,^(AJ)
    but me she forgot,^(AK)”
declares the Lord.^(AL)

¹⁴“Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness^(AM)
    and speak tenderly to her.
¹⁵There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor^[b]^(AN) a door of hope.
There she will respond^[c]^(AO) as in the days of her youth,^(AP)
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.^(AQ)

¹⁶“In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “you will call me ‘my husband’;^(AR)
    you will no longer call me ‘my master.^[d]’
¹⁷I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;^(AS)
    no longer will their names be invoked.^(AT)
¹⁸In that day I will make a covenant for them
    with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the creatures that move along the ground.^(AU)
Bow and sword and battle
    I will abolish^(AV) from the land,
    so that all may lie down in safety.^(AW)
¹⁹I will betroth^(AX) you to me forever;
    I will betroth you in^[e] righteousness and justice,^(AY)
    in^[f] love and compassion.^(AZ)
²⁰I will betroth you in^[g] faithfulness,
    and you will acknowledge^(BA) the Lord.^(BB)

²¹“In that day I will respond,”
    declares the Lord—
“I will respond^(BC) to the skies,
    and they will respond to the earth;
²²and the earth will respond to the grain,
    the new wine and the olive oil,^(BD)
    and they will respond to Jezreel.^[h]^(BE)
²³I will plant^(BF) her for myself in the land;
    I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.^[i]^(BG)’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,^[j]’ ‘You are my people’;^(BH)
    and they will say, ‘You are my God.^(BI)’”