-
you say, ‘I am innocent; he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
-
Why do you go about so much, changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria.
-
You will also leave that place with your hands on your head, for the class="small-caps" >Lord has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.
-
“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord.
-
“Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
-
Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.
-
Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth,
-
will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.”
-
Unfaithful Israel
During the reign of King Josiah, the class="small-caps" >Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.
-
I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.
-
I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.
-
Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
-
In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord.
-
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the class="small-caps" >Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the class="small-caps" >Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever.
-
Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the class="small-caps" >Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord.
-
“Return, faithless people,” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.
-
In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the class="small-caps" >Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
-
At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the class="small-caps" >Lord, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the class="small-caps" >Lord. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
-
In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
-
“I myself said, “‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.
-
But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,” declares the class="small-caps" >Lord.
-
A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the class="small-caps" >Lord their God.
-
“Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the class="small-caps" >Lord our God.
-
Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the class="small-caps" >Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
-
From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our ancestors’ labor— their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.