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Unfaithful Israel

If[a] a man divorces his wife
    and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
    will he return to her?
Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
You have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
    and would you return to me?
            says the Lord.(A)
Look up to the bare heights[b] and see!
    Where have you not been lain with?
By the waysides you sat waiting for lovers,
    like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
    with your prostitutions and wickedness.(B)
Therefore the showers have been withheld,
    and the spring rain has not come,
yet you have the forehead of a prostitute;
    you refuse to be ashamed.(C)
Have you not just now called to me,
    “My Father, you are the friend of my youth—(D)
will he be angry forever,
    will he be indignant to the end?”
This is how you have spoken,
    but you have done all the evil that you could.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. 3.1 Gk Syr: Heb Saying, If
  2. 3.2 Or the trails

“If a man divorces a woman
    and she goes and marries someone else,
he will not take her back again,
    for that would surely corrupt the land.
But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
    so why are you trying to come back to me?”
    says the Lord.
“Look at the shrines on every hilltop.
    Is there any place you have not been defiled
    by your adultery with other gods?
You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.
    You sit alone like a nomad in the desert.
You have polluted the land with your prostitution
    and your wickedness.
That’s why even the spring rains have failed.
    For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.
Yet you say to me,
    ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.
Surely you won’t be angry forever!
    Surely you can forget about it!’
So you talk,
    but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”

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