Jeremiah 3:6-22

New International Version

Unfaithful Israel

⁶During the reign of King Josiah,^(A) the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless^(B) Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree^(C) and has committed adultery^(D) there. ⁷I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister^(E) Judah saw it.^(F) ⁸I gave faithless Israel^(G) her certificate of divorce^(H) and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear;^(I) she also went out and committed adultery. ⁹Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land^(J) and committed adultery^(K) with stone^(L) and wood.^(M) ¹⁰In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return^(N) to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,^(O)” declares the Lord.^(P)

¹¹The Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous^(Q) than unfaithful^(R) Judah.^(S) ¹²Go, proclaim this message toward the north:^(T)

“‘Return,^(U) faithless^(V) Israel,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’^(W) declares the Lord,
    ‘I will not be angry^(X) forever.
¹³Only acknowledge^(Y) your guilt—
    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods^(Z)
    under every spreading tree,^(AA)
    and have not obeyed^(AB) me,’”
declares the Lord.

¹⁴“Return,^(AC) faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband.^(AD) I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵Then I will give you shepherds^(AE) after my own heart,^(AF) who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark^(AG) of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered;^(AH) it will not be missed, nor will another one be made. ¹⁷At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne^(AI) of the Lord, and all nations^(AJ) will gather in Jerusalem to honor^(AK) the name of the Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.^(AL) ¹⁸In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel,^(AM) and together^(AN) they will come from a northern^(AO) land to the land^(AP) I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.

¹⁹“I myself said,

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,^(AQ)
    the most beautiful inheritance^(AR) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’^(AS)
    and not turn away from following me.
²⁰But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful^(AT) to me,”
declares the Lord.

²¹A cry is heard on the barren heights,^(AU)
the weeping^(AV) and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
and have forgotten^(AW) the Lord their God.