Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

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? 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. 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. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with (I)stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me (J)with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

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During the rule of King Josiah, the Lord said to me: Have you noticed what unfaithful Israel has done? She’s gone about looking for lovers on top of every high hill and under every lush tree. I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me, but she didn’t. Her disloyal sister Judah saw this. She[a] also saw that I sent unfaithful Israel away with divorce papers because of all her acts of unfaithfulness; yet disloyal sister Judah was not afraid but kept on playing the prostitute. She didn’t think twice about corrupting the land and committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet even after all this, disloyal sister Judah didn’t return to me with all her heart but only insincerely, declares the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:8 LXX, Syr; MT I