Jeremiah 3:1-13 ▼

1 saying: If a man put away his wife, And she go from him, And become another man's, May he return unto her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; And wouldest thou yet return to Me? Saith the LORD.

2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high hills, and see: Where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, As an Arabian in the wilderness; And thou hast polluted the land With thy harlotries and with thy wickedness.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there hath been no latter rain; Yet thou hadst a harlot's forehead, Thou refusedst to be ashamed.

4 Didst thou not just now cry unto Me: 'My father, Thou art the friend of my youth.

5 Will He bear grudge for ever? Will He keep it to the end?' Behold, thou hast spoken, but hast done evil things, And hast had thy way.

6 And the LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king: 'Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel did? she went up upon every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and there played the harlot.

7 And I said: After she hath done all these things, she will return unto me; but she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

8 And I saw, when, forasmuch as backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, that yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot;

9 and it came to pass through the lightness of her harlotry, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks;

10 and yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD--

11 even the LORD said unto me--backsliding Israel hath proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say: Return, thou backsliding Israel, Saith the LORD; I will not frown upon you; For I am merciful, saith the LORD, I will not bear grudge for ever.

13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, That thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, And hast scattered thy ways to the strangers Under every leafy tree, And ye have not hearkened to My voice, Saith the LORD.