Jeremiah
Chapter 3
1 People ask, “If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him to be with another man, can he take her back? Won’t that make the land very unclean?” But you have been unfaithful with many partners; still, come back to me, says God.
2 Look up to the high places and see where you haven’t been with anyone. You have waited along the paths for others, like an Arabian in the desert; and you have made the land impure with your unfaithfulness and your evil ways.
3 So the rains have been stopped, and there was no late rain; your face was like a prostitute’s, you refused to feel shame.
4 Won’t you from now on call out to me, ‘My Father, you have led me since I was young’?
5 Will God stay angry forever? Will he keep his anger to the end? You have said and done bad things as much as you could.
6 God also said to me in King Josiah’s time, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there acted like a prostitute.”
7 After she did all this, I said, “Come back to me.” But she did not return. And her unfaithful sister Judah saw this.
8 I saw that, even though Israel had been unfaithful and I divorced her, her deceitful sister Judah was not afraid and also acted unfaithfully.
9 She became impure because of her many lovers, and she made the land impure too, by worshiping idols made of wood and stone.
10 Despite this, Judah, her unfaithful sister, did not fully turn back to me but only pretended to, says God.
11 God told me, “Israel, even though unfaithful, has proven to be better than the deceitful Judah.”
12 Go and speak these words to the north, and say, “Come back, unfaithful Israel,” says God, “and I won’t let my anger come down on you because I am merciful,” says God, “and I won’t stay angry forever.”
13 Admit your wrongs, admit you’ve sinned against God, by following foreign customs under every green tree, and not listening to me, says God.
14 Come back to me, you who have turned away, says God; for I am committed to you: I will choose one person from each city and two from each family, and I will bring you to Zion.
15 I will give you leaders who please me, and they will teach you with knowledge and understanding.
16 When you grow and become many in the land, in those days, God says, they will no longer talk about the ark of God’s covenant. It will not be thought of, remembered, or visited, and that will not happen again.
17 At that time, people will call Jerusalem God’s throne; all nations will come together there to honor God. And they will no longer follow their own evil thoughts.
18 During that time, the people of Judah will join with the people of Israel, and together they will come from the northern lands to the land I gave your ancestors as their inheritance.
19 But I said, “How can I place you among the children and give you a beautiful land, a wonderful inheritance from many nations?” And I said, “You will call me ‘My Father,’ and will not turn away from me.”
20 Just as a wife dishonestly leaves her husband, so you have been dishonest with me, O people of Israel, says God.
21 A cry was heard on the hills, the weeping and prayers of Israel’s children: because they have twisted their path, and they have forgotten God.
22 Come back, you who have strayed, and I will heal your wandering. We are returning to you because you are our God.
23 Hoping for rescue from the hills or many mountains is truly useless: only from God is Israel’s salvation.
24 Shame has ruined our ancestors’ hard work since we were young; their animals, their sons, and their daughters.
25 We lay in our shame, and our disgrace covers us: because we have sinned against God, both we and our ancestors, from our youth to this day, and have not listened to God’s voice.