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¹ They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man's, will he return to her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have prostituted with many lovers; yet return again to me, says Yahweh.² Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see; where haven't you been lain with? By the ways you have sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.³ Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.⁴ Will you not from this time cry to me, My Father, you are the guide of my youth?⁵ Will he retain [his anger] forever? will he keep it to the end? Look, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.

⁶ Moreover Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she's gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree and prostituted there.⁷ And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me; but she didn't return: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.⁸ And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah her sister didn't fear; but she also went and prostituted.⁹ And it came to pass through the lightness of her prostitution, that she defiled herself together with the land, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.¹⁰ And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says Yahweh.¹¹ And Yahweh said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹² Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says Yahweh; I will not look in anger on you; for I am merciful, says Yahweh, I will not keep [anger] forever.¹³ Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yahweh your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you haven't obeyed my voice, says Yahweh.¹⁴ Return, O backsliding sons, says Yahweh; for I am a husband to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:¹⁵ and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.¹⁶ And it shall come to pass, when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yahweh, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made anymore.¹⁷ At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yahweh; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.¹⁸ In 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 gave for an inheritance to your fathers.¹⁹ But I said, How I will put you among the sons, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! And I said, You shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.

²⁰ Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says 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, you backsliding sons, I will heal your backslidings. Look, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.²³ Truly, delusion comes from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: [but] truly in Yahweh our God is the salvation of Israel.²⁴ But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we haven't obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.