Jeremiah 3:12-25 ▼

12 Go and call out these words toward the north and say, ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh; ‘I will not look upon you in anger. For I am One of lovingkindness,’ declares Yahweh; ‘I will not be angry forever.

13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against Yahweh your God And have scattered your ways of harlotry to the strangers under every green tree, And you have not listened to My voice,’ declares Yahweh.

14 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares Yahweh; ‘For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.’

15 “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will shepherd you on knowledge and understanding.

16 It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and fruitful in the land,” declares Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come upon the heart, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.

17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of Yahweh; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

19 “Then I said, ‘How I would set you among My sons And give you a pleasant land, The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,” And not turn away from following Me.’

20 Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.

21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; Because they have perverted their way, They have forgotten Yahweh their God.

22 “Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to You, For You are Yahweh our God.

23 Surely, the hills are a lie, A tumult on the mountains. Surely in Yahweh our God Is the salvation of Israel.

24 “But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God.”