Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

⁶ The Lord said to me in the days of ^(A)King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, ^(B)how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there ^(C)played the whore? ⁷ And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous ^(D)sister Judah saw it. ⁸ She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, ^(E)I had sent her away with ^(F)a decree of divorce. ^(G)Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went ^(H)and played the whore.

⁸ “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^(A)I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^(B)and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^(C)and you became mine. ⁹ Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^(D)anointed you with oil. ^10 (E)I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.^{[a] 11 (F)}And I adorned you with ornaments and ^(G)put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹² And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. ^(H)You ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^(I)You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴ And ^(J)your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

^15 (K)“But you trusted in your beauty ^(L)and played the whore^[b] because of your renown ^(M)and lavished your whorings^[c] on any passerby; your beauty^[d] became his. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.^{[e] 17} You also took ^(N)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^(O)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸ And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^(P)and set my oil and my incense before them. ^19 (Q)Also my bread that I gave you—^(R)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^(S)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. ^20 (T)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^(U)these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹ that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?

²² Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, ^(A)Israel is my ^(B)firstborn son,