Jeremiah 3
1 If a man divorces his wife and she goes and marries someone else, could he ever go back to her? Wouldn't the country be made totally unclean by this? But you have done worse by prostituting yourselves with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me? declares the Lord.
It is said, if a man put away his wife, And she go from him, and become another man's, Shall he return to her again? Shall not that land be polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; And shalt thou return to me, saith Jehovah?
2 Look up at the bare hilltops. Is there anywhere that you haven't had sex? You sat at the roadside like someone from the desert waiting for your lovers to pass by. You have made the land unclean with your prostitution and evil.
Lift up thine eyes to the high places, and see! Where hast thou not been defiled? In the ways hast thou sat waiting, As the Arabian in the desert, And hast polluted the land by thy lewdness and thy wickedness.
3 That's why no showers have been sent, and no spring rains have fallen. But you just stare back shamelessly like a prostitute; you refuse to accept you've done anything wrong.
And although the showers have been withholden, And there hath been no latter rain, Yet thou hast had a harlot's forehead; Thou hast refused to be ashamed.
4 Didn't you just tell me, “My father, you've been such a close friend to me since I was little.
Wilt thou not from this time cry to me, Thou art my father, Yea, the friend of my youth art thou?
5 You won't be angry with me for a long time, will you? You won't go on being like that forever?” This is what you've said, but you keep on sinning as much as you can.
Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it forevermore? Behold, thus dost thou speak, But thou doest evil with all thy might.
6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord told me, Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has prostituted herself on every high hill and under every green tree.
Jehovah said to me, in the time of King Josiah, Hast thou heard what rebellious Israel hath done? She hath gone upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
7 I hoped that after she'd done all this she'd come back to me. But she didn't come back, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw what happened.
And I said, after she had done all these things, Return thou to me! But she returned not. And her faithless sister Judah saw it.
8 She saw that because of everything unfaithful Israel had done on committing adultery, I sent her away, giving her a certificate of divorce. But her unfaithful sister Judah wasn't afraid and prostituted herself too.
And I saw, when, for all the adulteries which rebellious Israel had committed, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce, that her faithless sister Judah was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself.
9 Israel didn't care about the immorality, as she made herself and the land unclean, committing adultery by worshiping stones and trees.
And when by the fame of her lewdness she had polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and wood,
10 Despite all this, her unfaithful sister Judah didn't come back to me in sincerity. She only pretended to do so, declares the Lord.
yet for all this did not her faithless sister Judah return to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.
11 The Lord told me, Unfaithful Israel showed that she wasn't as guilty as unfaithful Judah.
Then said Jehovah to me, Rebellious Israel is less guilty than faithless Judah.
12 Now go and announce this message to the north: Come back, unfaithful Israel, declares the Lord. I won't be angry with you anymore, because I am merciful, declares the Lord. I won't be angry forever.
Go and proclaim these words toward the north: —Return, O rebellious Israel, saith Jehovah! I will not turn a frowning face upon you; For I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I retain not anger forever.
13 Just admit you did wrong, that you rebelled against the Lord your God. You spread yourself around, committing adultery by worshiping foreign gods under every green tree, refusing to do what I told you, declares the Lord.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, That thou hast rebelled against Jehovah thy God, And hast roved about to strangers Under every green tree, And hast not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah.
14 Come back, unfaithful children, declares the Lord, because I am married to you. I will take you, one from a town and two from a family, and bring you to Zion.
Return, ye rebellious children! saith Jehovah; Though I have rejected you, Yet will I receive you again, One from a city, and two from a nation, And I will bring you to Zion.
15 I will give you shepherds who are like me who will feed you wisely and with understanding.
And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, Who shall feed you with wisdom and discretion.
16 At that time as you increase in number in the country, declares the Lord, no one will be talking about the Ark of the Lord's Agreement anymore. People won't need to think about it or remember it or wonder what happened to it; and certainly won't need to make a new one.
And when ye shall have multiplied and increased in the land, saith Jehovah, Then shall ye no more speak of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, Nor shall it come into your mind. None shall remember it; None shall care for it; It shall not be made any more.
17 When that time comes Jerusalem will be called the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will come together in Jerusalem to honor the Lord. They won't be stubborn or wicked anymore.
For then shall Jerusalem be called the throne of Jehovah, And all the nations shall resort to it; They shall resort to Jehovah, to Jerusalem, And shall no more walk after the perverseness of their evil hearts.
18 At that time the people of Judah will join with the people of Israel, and they will return from the land of the north to the country I gave to your forefathers to own.
In those days shall the house of Judah unite themselves with the house of Israel, And they shall come together from the north country, To the land which I caused your fathers to inherit.
19 I said to myself, I really want you to be my children, and to give you the best country, the most beautiful place of any nation. I hoped you would call me “Father,” and never give up following me.
Then I said, how will I place thee among my children, And give thee a pleasant land, A goodly inheritance among the hosts of nations! And I said, Thou wilt call me thy father; Thou wilt not turn aside from following me.
20 But just like a wife might betray her husband, you have betrayed me, people of Israel, declares the Lord.
Yet as a woman is faithless to her husband, So have ye been faithless to me, O house of Israel! saith Jehovah.
21 Voices are crying on bare hilltops—the Israelites weeping and pleading for mercy, because they have gone astray and forgotten the Lord their God.
A voice is heard upon the hills, The weeping and supplications of the children of Israel! For they have perverted their way; They have forgotten Jehovah their God.
22 Come back, unfaithful children, and I will heal your unfaithfulness. “We're here! Yes, we're coming back to you, because you are the Lord our God.”
Return, O revolted children! I will heal your rebellion. Behold, we come to thee, For thou art Jehovah our God!
23 There's no doubt that pagan worship from the hills is pure lies; the idolatry that comes from the mountains is just noise. Israel's salvation is in the Lord our God alone.
Truly in vain from the hills, In vain from the mountains do we seek abundance; Only from Jehovah our God cometh salvation for Israel.
24 All our lives pagan idolatry has destroyed what our fathers worked so hard for: their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
For the things of shame have devoured the substance of our fathers from our youth, Their sheep and their oxen, Their sons and their daughters.
25 We should lie down in shame, and have our disgrace bury us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, us and our fathers. From when we were young right up to now we have not obeyed what the Lord our God told us to do.
We lie down in our shame, And our ignominy covereth us; For we have sinned against Jehovah our God, We and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, And have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
