A Call to Repentance
6The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.
7And I said after she had done all these things, Turn you to Me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
9And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. frivolity; wooden idols
10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says the Lord. deceptively
11And the Lord said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
12Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the Lord; and I will not cause My anger to fall upon youp: for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever.
13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and youp have not obeyed My voice, says the Lord.
14Turn, O backsliding children, says the Lord; for I am married to youp: and I will take youp one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring youp to Zion:
15And I will give youp pastors according to My heart, which shall feed youp with knowledge and understanding.
16And it shall come to pass, when youp be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. agreement; punish
17At 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, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. stubbornness
18In 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 to the land that I have given for an inheritance to yourp fathers.
19But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, You shall call Me, My father; and shall not turn away from Me.
20Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have youp dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, says the Lord.
21A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22Return, youp backsliding children, and I will heal yourp backslidings. Behold, we come to You; for You are the Lord our God.
23Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.
