3 g “If [1] a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
will he return to her?
h Would not that land be greatly polluted?
i You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to j the bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
k By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
h You have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 l Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have m the forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now n called to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 o will he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”
6 The Lord said to me in the days of p King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, q how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there i 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 r sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, s I had sent her away with t a decree of divorce. u Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went i and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with v stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me w with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”
11 And the Lord said to me, x “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward y the north, and say,
z “‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for a I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
b I will not be angry forever.
13 c Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under d every green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
14 e Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
f for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
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