1“If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him, and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would the land not be greatly defiled? After having played the harlot with many lovers, why would you expect to return to Me?” says the LORD. 2“Look at the shrines on all the high places - is there any place where you have not been ravished and defiled. You have sat by the roadside, like a nomad in the desert waiting for your lovers; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness. 3That is why the spring rain showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and yet you had the brazen look of a harlot, refusing to blush or be ashamed. 4Have you not just called out to Me, ‘My Father, You have been my Guide from my youth. 5Will You keep Your anger forever? Will You keep it to the end?’ This is how you talk; and yet you keep on doing as much evil as you can.”

6During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and played the harlot there. 7And I said after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not. And her treacherous sister, Judah, saw it. 8And when I saw, I gave unfaithful Israel a bill of divorce and sent her away, because of her adultery; and still her treacherous sister, Judah, had no fear, but also went and played the harlot. 9And because she gave no thought to Israel’s immorality, she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and wood. 10And yet, for all this, treacherous sister Judah has not returned to Me with her whole heart, but feignedly (in pretense),” says the LORD. 11And the LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel is more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12“Go and proclaim these words toward the north (Israel), and say, ‘Return, faithless Israel’, and I will not cause My anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, and I will not keep my anger forever. 13Only acknowledge your guilt - that you have transgressed against the LORD, your God, and have scattered your favors to strange gods under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice”.

14“Return, My faithless children”, says the LORD; “For I am married to you; and I will take you back - one of a city, and two of a family - and I will bring you to Zion: 15And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16In those days, when you have multiplied and increased in number in the land”, says the LORD, “They shall no longer say, ‘The Ark of the covenant of the LORD’; nor shall it come to mind or be remembered; nor shall they miss it; nor shall it be replaced or needed any more. 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem ‘The throne of the LORD’, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to honor the name of the LORD in Jerusalem; nor shall they stubbornly follow the imagination of their evil heart. 18In those days the people of Judah shall join with the people of Israel, and they shall come out of the land of the north and gather in the land that I have given to their fathers for an inheritance.”

19“But I, Myself, said, ‘How I would love to treat you as My own children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful heritage of any nation!’ And I look forward to you calling Me, ‘My Father’, and not turning away from following Me. 20Surely, as a wife treacherously abandons her husband, you have treacherously dealt with Me, O house of Israel”, says the LORD. 21Voices are heard upon the barren high places, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel; for they have perverted their ways, and have forgotten the LORD, their God. 22“Return, faithless people, and I will cure your rebellious heart. As a loving God looks for a response such as: ‘Look, we are returning to You; for You are the LORD, our God. 23Truly our worship of idols on the hills, and our religious orgies are vain delusions; truly the salvation of Israel is only in the LORD, our God. 24For those shameful false gods have devoured all the fruit of our labor and that of our fathers from our youth - their flocks and their herds, their sons, and daughters. 25Let us now lie down in our shame, and let confusion cover us with disgrace; for we have sinned against the LORD, our God, both we and our fathers, from our youth unto this very day; we have disobeyed the LORD, our God.’”