< Jeremiah 3 >
1 They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he go back to her again? will not that land have been made unclean? but though you have been acting like a loose woman with a number of lovers, will you now come back to me? says the Lord.
He hath said, If a man send away his wife, and she go from him and become another man’s, will he return unto her, again? would not that land be, utterly defiled? And, thou, hast been unchaste with many neighbours, and yet [thinkest] to return unto me! Declareth Yahweh.
2 Let your eyes be lifted up to the open hilltops, and see; where have you not been taken by your lovers? You have been seated waiting for them by the wayside like an Arabian in the waste land; you have made the land unclean with your loose ways and your evil-doing.
Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights and see—where thou hast not been unchastely embraced! beside the ways, hast thou sat to them, like the Arabian in the desert, —and hast defiled the land with thine unchastities, and with thy wickedness.
3 So the showers have been kept back, and there has been no spring rain; still your brow is the brow of a loose woman, you will not let yourself be shamed.
Therefore have been withholden the showers, And, the latter rain, hath not come, —Yet the forehead of an unchaste woman, hast thou, Thou hast refused to be ashamed.
4 Will you not, from this time, make your prayer to me, crying, My father, you are the friend of my early years?
Hast thou not from this time, cried unto me, My father! the friend of my youth, art, thou?
5 Will he be angry for ever? will he keep his wrath to the end? These things you have said, and have done evil and have had your way.
Will he maintain his anger to times age-abiding? Will he keep it perpetually? Lo! thou hast spoken thus but hast done wicked things and had thy way!
6 And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel, turning away from me, has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every branching tree, acting like a loose woman there.
And Yahweh said unto me, in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen what apostate Israel, did? She used to go upon every high mountain and beneath every green tree, and commit unchastity there.
7 And I said, After she has done all these things she will come back to me; but she did not. And her false sister Judah saw it.
And I said, after she had been doing all these things, Unto me, shall thou return? and she returned not, —and her treacherous sister Judah saw it!
8 And though she saw that, because Israel, turning away from me, had been untrue to me, I had put her away and given her a statement in writing ending the relation between us, still Judah, her false sister, had no fear, but went and did the same.
Though she saw that for all this, apostate Israel having committed adultery, I had sent her away, and had given a scroll of divorcement unto her, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but, she also, went and committed unchastity.
9 So that through all her loose behaviour the land became unclean, and she was untrue, giving herself to stones and trees.
Yea though it had come to pass that through the levity of her unchastity, she had defiled the land, —and committed adultery with Stone and with Tree,
10 But for all this, her false sister Judah has not come back to me with all her heart, but with deceit, says the Lord.
yet, in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah returned not unto me, with all her heart, —but, falsely, Declareth Yahweh.
11 And the Lord said to me, Israel in her turning away is seen to be more upright than false Judah.
Then said Yahweh unto me, —Apostate Israel, hath justified herself, —more than treacherous Judah.
12 Go, and give out these words to the north, and say, Come back, O Israel, though you have been turned away from me, says the Lord; my face will not be against you in wrath: for I am full of mercy, says the Lord, I will not be angry for ever.
Go, and proclaim these words, towards the North and say—Return! thou apostate—Israel, Urgeth Yahweh, I will not lower my face against you, —for full of lovingkindness, I am, Declareth Yahweh, I will not maintain [mine anger] unto times age-abiding.
13 Only be conscious of your sin, the evil you have done against the Lord your God; you have gone with strange men under every branching tree, giving no attention to my voice, says the Lord.
Only, acknowledge thine iniquity, that against Yahweh thy God, hast thou transgressed, —and hast gone hither and thither unto foreigners under every green tree, and unto my voice, ye have not hearkened Declareth Yahweh.
14 Come back, O children who are turned away, says the Lord; for I am a husband to you, and I will take you, one from a town and two from a family, and will make you come to Zion;
Return, ye apostate sons, Urgeth Yahweh, for, I, am become your husband, —therefore will I take you one of a city, and two of a family, and will bring you to Zion;
15 And I will give you keepers, pleasing to my heart, who will give you your food with knowledge and wisdom.
and will give you shepherds according to mine own heart, —who will feed you with knowledge and discretion.
16 And it will come about, when your numbers are increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, that they will no longer say, The ark of the agreement of the Lord: it will not come into their minds, they will not have any memory of it, or be conscious of the loss of it, and it will not be made again.
And it shall come to pass when ye shall be multiplied and become fruitful in the land, in those days, Declareth Yahweh, They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh, Neither shall it come up on the heart, Neither shall they remember it, Neither shall they miss it, Neither shall it be made any more.
17 At that time Jerusalem will be named the seat of the Lord's kingdom; and all the nations will come together to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: and no longer will their steps be guided by the purposes of their evil hearts.
At that time, shall they call Jerusalem, The throne of Yahweh, and there shall be gathered unto her all the nations—to the Name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem; and they shall walk no more after the stubbornness of their own wicked heart.
18 In those days the family of Judah will go with the family of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north into the land which I gave for a heritage to your fathers.
In those days, shall the house of Judah go unto the house of Israel, —that they may enter together out of the land of the North, upon the land which I gave as an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, How am I to put you among the children, and give you a desired land, a heritage of glory among the armies of the nations? and I said, You are to say to me, My father; and not be turned away from me.
Though, I myself, had said, —How can I put thee among the sons, And give thee a land to be coveted, An inheritance of beauty, of the hosts of nations? Yet I said, My father, shalt thou call me, And away from me, shalt thou not turn.
20 Truly, as a wife is false to her husband, so have you been false to me, O Israel, says the Lord.
But indeed [as] a wife goeth treacherously from her husband, so, have ye acted treacherously with me, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh.
21 A voice is sounding on the open hilltops, the weeping and the prayers of the children of Israel; because their way is twisted, they have not kept the Lord their God in mind.
A voice on the bare heights, is heard, The weeping of the supplications of the sons of Israel, —Because they have perverted their way, Have forgotten Yahweh their God.
22 Come back, you children who have been turned away, and I will take away your desire for wandering. See, we have come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
Return ye apostate sons, I will heal your apostasies! Behold us! we have come unto thee, For thou, art Yahweh our God.
23 Truly, the hills, and the noise of an army on the mountains, are a false hope: truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
Surely, to falsehood, pertain the hills The noisy throng on the mountains, —Surely, in Yahweh our God, is the salvation of Israel!
24 But the Baal has taken all the work of our fathers from our earliest days; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
But, the Shameful thing, hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: Their flocks, and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us be stretched on the earth in our downfall, covering ourselves with our shame: for we have been sinners against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our earliest years even till this day: and we have not given ear to the voice of the Lord our God.
We must lie down in our shame And our reproach, be our covering, For, against Yahweh our God, have we sinned, We and our fathers, from our youth even until this day, —Neither have we hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh our God.