| International Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 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. | 1"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?" says the LORD. |
| 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. | 2"Look up at the hilltops and consider this. You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods. |
| 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. | 3That is why the rains have been withheld, and the spring rains have not come. Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done. |
| 4Have you not just called out to me, 'My father, you are the friend of my youth— | 4Even now you say to me, 'You are my father! You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young. |
| 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." | 5You will not always be angry with me, will you? You will not be mad at me forever, will you?' That is what you say, but you continually do all the evil that you can." |
| 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. | 6When Josiah was king of Judah, the LORD said to me, "Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. |
| 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. | 7Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. |
| 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. | 8She also saw that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. |
| 9She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. | 9Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. |
| 10Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn't return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively," declares the LORD. | 10In spite of all this, Israel's sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so," says the LORD. |
| 11Then the LORD told me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. | 11Then the LORD said to me, "Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah. |
| 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. | 12"Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them, 'Come back to me, wayward Israel,' says the LORD. 'I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,' says the LORD. 'I will not be angry with you forever. |
| 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. | 13However, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,' says the LORD. |
| 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. | 14"Come back to me, my wayward sons," says the LORD, "for I am your true master. If you do, I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion. |
| 15I'll give you shepherds after my own heart, and they'll shepherd you with knowledge and good sense." | 15I will give you leaders who will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and insight. |
| 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. | 16In those days, your population will greatly increase in the land. At that time," says the LORD, "people will no longer talk about having the ark that contains the LORD's covenant with us. They will not call it to mind, remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done any more! |
| 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. | 17At that time the city of Jerusalem will be called the LORD's throne. All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the LORD's name. They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. |
| 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." | 18At that time the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited. Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession." |
| 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.' | 19"I thought to myself, 'Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! What a joy it would be for me to give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!' I thought you would call me, 'Father' and would never cease being loyal to me. |
| 20Instead, like an unfaithful wife leaves her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel," declares the LORD. | 20But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband," says the LORD. |
| 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." | 21"A noise is heard on the hilltops. It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods. Indeed they have followed sinful ways; they have forgotten to be true to the LORD their 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. | 22Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness. Say, 'Here we are. We come to you because you are 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." | 23We know our noisy worship of false gods on the hills and mountains did not help us. We know that the LORD our God is the only one who can deliver Israel. |
| 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. | 24From earliest times our worship of that shameful god, Baal, has taken away all that our ancestors worked for. It has taken away our flocks and our herds, and even our sons and daughters. |
| 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." | 25Let us acknowledge our shame. Let us bear the disgrace that we deserve. For we have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our ancestors. From earliest times to this very day we have not obeyed the LORD our God.' |
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