3 If a man divorces his wife,
    and after she leaves him marries another,
        can he return to her again?
    Wouldn’t such an act completely corrupt the land?
Yet you have prostituted yourself with many lovers.
    Would you return to me?
        declares the Lord.
² Look to the well-traveled paths^[a] and see!
    Where haven’t you committed adultery?
On the roadsides you sit in wait for lovers,
    like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have corrupted the land
    with your cheap and reckless behavior.
³ That’s why the showers have failed
    and the spring rains have ceased.
Still you act like a brazen prostitute^[b]
    who refuses to blush.
⁴ At the same time you say to me,
    “My father, my friend since youth,
⁵         will you stay angry forever?
        Will you continue to be furious?”
This is what you say
    while you do as much evil as you possibly can.