Jeremiah 3

Revised Geneva Translation

3 “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, shall he return again to her? Shall not this land be polluted?’ But you have played the harlot, with many lovers, yet turn again to me,” says the LORD.

² “Lift up your eyes to the high places, and behold where you have not played the harlot. You have sat, waiting for them on the way, as the Arabian in the wilderness. And you have polluted the land with your whoredoms, and with your malice.

³ “Therefore the showers have been restrained, and the latter rain came not, and you had a whore’s forehead. You would not be ashamed.

⁴ “Did you not still cry to Me, ‘You are My Father, the guide of my youth?

⁵ ‘Will He keep His anger forever? Will He reserve it to the end?’ Thus have you spoken, but you still do evil, more and more.”

⁶ The LORD also said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what this rebel Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

⁷ “And I said, when she had done all this, ‘Turn to Me.’ But she did not return, as her rebellious sister Judah saw.

⁸ “Then I saw how that for all the occasions rebellious Israel had played the harlot, and I had cast her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet her rebellious sister, Judah, was not afraid. And she also went and played the harlot.

⁹ “So that because of the lightness of her whoredom, she has even defiled the land. For she has committed fornication with stones and trees.

¹⁰ “Nevertheless, for all this, her rebellious sister Judah has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but deceptively,” says the LORD.

¹¹ And the LORD said to me, “The rebellious Israel has justified herself more than the rebellious Judah.

¹² “Go and cry these Words toward the North, and say, ‘You disobedient Israel, return,’ says the LORD, ‘and I will not let My wrath fall upon you.’ For I am merciful,” says the LORD, “and I will not always keep My anger.

¹³ “But know your iniquity. For you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strange gods under every green tree. But you would not obey My Voice,” says the LORD.

¹⁴ “O you disobedient children, turn again,” says the LORD, “for I am your LORD. And I will take you, one from a city, and two from a tribe, and will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵ “And I will give you pastors according to My Heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶ “Moreover, when you are increased and multiplied in the land, in those days,” says the LORD, “they shall say no more: ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD.’ For it shall not come to mind anymore, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it. For that shall not be done anymore.

¹⁷ “At that time, they shall call Jerusalem, ‘The Throne of the LORD.’ And all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the Name of the LORD in Jerusalem. And henceforth they shall not follow the hardness of their wicked heart anymore.

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, into the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.

¹⁹ “But I said, ‘How did I take you for children, and give you a pleasant land, the glorious heritage of the armies of the heathen?’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, “My Father”, and shall not turn from Me.’

²⁰ “But as a woman rebels against her husband, so have you rebelled against Me, O House of Israel,” says the LORD.

²¹ A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way, forgotten the LORD their God.

²² “O you disobedient children! Return and I will heal your rebellions.” “Behold, we come to You! For You are the LORD our God.

²³ “Truly the hope of the hills is but vain, and the multitude of mountains. But in the LORD our God is the health of Israel.

²⁴ “For confusion has devoured our father’s labor from our youth, their sheep and their bullocks, their sons and their daughters.

²⁵ “We lie down in our confusion, and our shame covers us. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers from our youth, even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”