¹“They say , ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him , and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again ?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted ? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers ; yet return again to me ,” says the LORD .

²“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights , and see ! Where have you not been lain with ? You have sat waiting for them by the road , as an Arabian in the wilderness . You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness .

³Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain ; yet you have had a prostitute ’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed .

⁴Will you not from this time cry to me , ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth !’?

⁵“‘Will he retain his anger forever ? Will he keep it to the end ?’ Behold , you have spoken and have done evil things , and have had your way .”

⁶Moreover, the LORD 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 played the prostitute there .

⁷I said after she had done all these things , ‘She will return to me ;’ but she didn’t return , and her treacherous sister Judah saw it .

⁸I saw when , for this very cause , that backsliding Israel had committed adultery , I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce , yet treacherous Judah , her sister, had no fear , but she also went and played the prostitute .

⁹Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted , and she committed adultery with stones and with wood .

¹⁰Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah , has not returned to me with her whole heart , but only in pretence,” says the LORD .

¹¹The LORD said to me , “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah .

¹²Go , and proclaim these words towards the north , and say , ‘Return , you backsliding Israel ,’ says the LORD ; ‘I will not look in anger on you , for I am merciful ,’ says the LORD . ‘I will not keep anger forever .

¹³Only acknowledge your iniquity , that you have transgressed against the LORD your God , and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree , and you have not obeyed my voice ,’” says the LORD .

¹⁴“Return , backsliding children ,” says the LORD , “for I am a husband to you . I will take one of you from a city , and two from a family , and I will bring you to Zion .

¹⁵I will give you shepherds according to my heart , who will feed you with knowledge and understanding .

¹⁶It will come to pass , when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days ,” says the LORD , “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of the LORD ’s covenant !’ It will not come to mind . They won’t remember it . They won’t miss it , nor will another be made .

¹⁷At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The LORD ’s Throne ;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it , to the LORD ’s name , to Jerusalem . They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart .

¹⁸In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel , and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

¹⁹“But I said , ‘How I desire to put you amongst the children , and give you a pleasant land , a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations !’ and I said , ‘You shall call me “My Father ”, and shall not turn away from following me .’

²⁰“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband , so you have dealt treacherously with me , house of Israel ,” says the LORD .

²¹A voice is heard on the bare heights , the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel ; because they have perverted their way , they have forgotten the LORD their God .

²²Return , you backsliding children , and I will heal your backsliding .

“Behold , we have come to you ; for you are the LORD our God .

²³Truly help from the hills , the tumult on the mountains , is in vain . Truly the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God .

²⁴But the shameful thing has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth , their flocks and their herds , their sons and their daughters .

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame , and let our confusion cover us ; for we have sinned against the LORD our God , we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day . We have not obeyed the LORD our God ’s voice .”