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Jeremiah 3

1 They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, shall he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have committed adultery with many lovers; yet turn back to Me, says Jehovah.
2 Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights, and see. Where have you not been lain with and ravished? By the highways you have sat for them, like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotry and with your evil.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you had a harlot's forehead; you refused to be ashamed.
4 Will you not now cry to Me, My father, You are the guide of my youth?
5 Will He keep His anger forever? Will He keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done all the evil things you could.
6 Jehovah also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has committed adultery there.
7 And after she had done all these things I said, Turn back to Me! But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 And I saw, when for all the causes for which backsliding Israel committed adultery, I put her away and gave her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she also went and committed adultery.
9 So it came to pass through the wantonness of her harlotry, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and pieces of wood.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says Jehovah.
11 And Jehovah said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, O backsliding Israel, says Jehovah; and I will not cause My anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, says Jehovah, and I will not keep anger forever.
13 Only, acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says Jehovah.
14 Return, O backsliding children, says Jehovah; for I am married to you. And I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family; and I will bring you to Zion.
15 And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when you have multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says Jehovah, that they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah! Nor shall it come to mind; nor shall they remember it; nor shall they seek it; nor shall it be made anymore.
17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called, The Throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Nor shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.
19 But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful inheritance among the multitudes of nations! And I said, You shall call Me, My Father, and shall not turn away from Me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her companion, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah.
21 A voice was heard on the desolate heights; weeping and supplications of the children of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten Jehovah their God.
22 Return, O backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to You; for You are Jehovah our God.
23 Truly, deception comes from the high hills, from the multitudes on the mountains. Truly, in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
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