| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Wouldn't such a land become totally defiled? But you! You have played the prostitute with many partners-- can you return to Me? This is the LORD's declaration. | 1"When a man divorces his wife, she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, will the first husband return to her again? The land would be deeply polluted, would it not? Since you have committed fornication with many lovers, would you now return to me?" declares the LORD. |
| 2Look to the barren heights and see. Where have you not been immoral? You sat waiting for them beside the highways like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. | 2"Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? You have sat beside the road, waiting for them like a nomad in the desert. And you have polluted the land with your fornication and your wickedness. |
| 3This is why the showers haven't come-- why there has been no spring rain. You have the brazen look of a prostitute and refuse to be ashamed. | 3This is why the rain has been withheld and there are no spring showers. Yet you have a harlot's look and you refuse to be ashamed. |
| 4Have you not lately called to Me, "My Father. You were my friend in my youth. | 4Have you not just called out to me, 'My father, you are the friend of my youth— |
| 5Will He bear a grudge forever? Will He be endlessly infuriated?" This is what you have said, but you have done the evil things you are capable of. | 5will he hold on to his anger forever, will he persist in his wrath to the end?' Look, you have spoken and done evil things, and you have succeeded in it." |
| 6In the days of King Josiah the LORD asked me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there. | 6In the time of King Josiah the LORD told me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there. |
| 7I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. | 7I thought, 'After she has done all these things, she will return to me.' But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this. |
| 8I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself. | 8I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn't fear, and she, too, committed adultery. |
| 9Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. | 9She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. |
| 10Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn't return to Me with all her heart--only in pretense." This is the LORD's declaration. | 10Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn't return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively," declares the LORD. |
| 11The LORD announced to me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. | 11Then the LORD told me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. |
| 12Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say: Return, unfaithful Israel. This is the LORD's declaration. I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in My love. This is the LORD's declaration. I will not be angry forever. | 12Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say, 'Return, unfaithful Israel,' declares the LORD. 'I won't look on you in anger, for I am gracious,' declares the LORD. 'I won't remain angry forever. |
| 13Only acknowledge your guilt-- you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice. This is the LORD's declaration. | 13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God, and have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree. But you haven't obeyed me,' declares the LORD. |
| 14"Return, you faithless children"--this is the LORD's declaration--"for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. | 14"Return, unfaithful people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband. I'll take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I'll bring you to Zion. |
| 15I will give you shepherds who are loyal to Me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill. | 15I'll give you shepherds after my own heart, and they'll shepherd you with knowledge and good sense." |
| 16When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days"--the LORD's declaration--"no one will say any longer, 'The ark of the LORD's covenant.' It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. It will never again be made. | 16"And in those days when you increase in numbers and multiply in the land," declares the LORD, "people will no longer say, 'The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD,' and it won't come to mind, and they won't remember it or miss it, nor will it be made again. |
| 17At that time Jerusalem will be called, Yahweh's Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. | 17At that time people will call Jerusalem, "The Throne of the LORD," and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. They'll no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. |
| 18In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit." | 18In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they'll come to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance." |
| 19I thought: How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations. I thought: You will call Me, my Father, and never turn away from Me. | 19"I said, 'How I wanted to treat you like children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.' I said, 'You will call me, my father, and won't turn back from following me.' |
| 20However, as a woman may betray her lover, so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel. This is the LORD's declaration. | 20Instead, like an unfaithful wife leaves her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel," declares the LORD. |
| 21A sound is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, for they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God. | 21"A voice is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the children of Israel because they have perverted their way. They have forgotten the LORD their God." |
| 22Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. "Here we are, coming to You, for You are the LORD our God. | 22"Turn back, unfaithful people, and I'll heal your unfaithfulness." "Look, we're coming to you because you are the LORD our God. |
| 23Surely, falsehood comes from the hills, commotion from the mountains, but the salvation of Israel is only in the LORD our God. | 23Truly the hills are a deception, and the mountains are confusion. Truly, in the LORD our God is Israel's salvation." |
| 24From the time of our youth the shameful one has consumed what our fathers have worked for-- their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. | 24Since our youth the false gods have consumed the products of our ancestors' hard work, their sheep and their cattle, their sons and their daughters. |
| 25Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers, from the time of our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God." | 25"Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us, because both we and our ancestors have sinned against the LORD our God from our youth until this present time. We haven't obeyed the LORD our God." |
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