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1"Ifa a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? 2Would not that land be greatly polluted? 3You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD.
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Lift up your eyes to 4the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? 5By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. 6You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.
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7Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have 8the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.
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10will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."
Faithless Israel Called to Repentance
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The LORD said to me in the days of 11King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, 12how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there 13played the whore?
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And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous 14sister Judah saw it.
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She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, 15I had sent her away with 16a decree of divorce. 17Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went 18and played the whore.
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Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with 19stone and tree.
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Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me 20with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the LORD."
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And the LORD said to me, 21"Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
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Go, and proclaim these words toward 22the north, and say, 23"'Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for 24I am merciful, declares the LORD; 25I will not be angry forever.
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26Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under 27every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.
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28Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD; 29for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
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"'And 30I will give you shepherds after my own heart, 31who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
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And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again.
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At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, 32and all nations shall gather to it, 33to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.
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34In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land 35of the north to 36the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
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"'I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would 37call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.
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38Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.'"
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A voice on the 39bare heights is heard, 40the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God.
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41"Return, O faithless sons; 42I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to you, for you are the LORD our God.
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Truly 43the hills are a delusion, the orgiesb on the mountains. 44Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
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"But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)