Jeremias 3

1 If a man put away his wife, and she depart from him, and become another man's, shall she return to him any more at all? shall not that woman be utterly defiled? you you have gone a-whoring with many shepherds, and have returned to me, says the Lord.

“It is commonly said: ‘If a man has divorced his wife, and she departs from him, she will marry another man.’ So why would he return to her again? Is not that woman polluted and defiled? But you have fornicated yourself with many lovers. Even so, return to me, says the Lord, and I will accept you.

2 Lift up your eyes [to look] straight forward, and see where you have not been utterly defiled. You have sat for them by the wayside as a deserted crow, and have defiled the land with your fornications and your wickedness.

Lift your eyes straight up, and see where you did not debase yourself. You were sitting in the roadways, waiting for them, like a robber in the wilderness. And you have polluted the land by your fornications and by your wickedness.

3 And you did retain many shepherds for a stumbling block to yourself: you had a whore's face, you did become shameless toward all.

For this reason, the rain showers were withheld, and there were no late season rains. You made your face like that of a promiscuous woman; you were not willing to blush.

4 Hast you not called me as it were a home, and the father and guide of your virgin-time?

Therefore, at least from this moment on, call out to me: ‘You are my father, the guide of my virginity.’

5 Will [God's anger] continue for ever, or be preserved to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done these bad things, and had power [to do them].

Why should you be angry unceasingly? And will you continue in this to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil, for you were able to do so.”

6 And the Lord said to me in the days of Josias the king, Hast you seen what things the house of Israel has done to me? they have gone on every high mountain, and under every shady tree, and have committed fornication there.

And, in the days of king Josiah, the Lord said to me: “Have you not seen what the apostate Israel has done? She has brought herself up to every lofty mountain, and she has lain down under every leafy tree, and she has committed fornication there.

7 And I said after she had committed all these acts of fornication, Turn again to me. Yet she returned not. And faithless Juda saw her faithlessness.

And when she had done all these things, I said: ‘Return to me.’ But she did not return. And her deceitful sister Judah saw this:

8 And I saw that (for all the sins of which she was convicted, wherein the house of Israel committed adultery, and I put her away, and gave into her hands a bill of divorcement, ) yet faithless Juda feared not, but went and herself also committed fornication.

that because the apostate Israel had committed adultery, I had dismissed her and had given her a bill of divorce. Yet her deceitful sister Judah was not afraid. But she, too, went and committed fornication herself.

9 And her fornication was nothing accounted of; and she committed adultery with wood and stone.

And by the act of her fornication, she defiled the land. For she committed adultery with that which is stone and wood.

10 And for all these things faithless Juda turned not to me with all her heart, but falsely.

And after all these things, her deceitful sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but with lies, says the Lord.”

11 And the Lord said to me, Israel has justified himself more than faithless Juda.

And the Lord said to me: “The apostate Israel has justified her own soul by comparing herself to the deceitful Judah.

12 Go and read these words toward the north, and you shall say, Return to me, O house of Israel, says the Lord; and I will not set my face against you: for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not be angry with you for ever.

Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and you shall say: Return, O apostate Israel, says the Lord. For I will not avert my face from you. For I am holy, says the Lord, and I will not be angry forever.

13 Nevertheless, know your iniquity, that you have sinned against the Lord your God, and have scattered your ways to strangers under every shady tree, but you did not listen to my voice, says the Lord.

So then, truly acknowledge your iniquity, that you have betrayed the Lord your God, and that you have spread your ways to strangers, under every leafy tree, and that you have not listened to my voice, says the Lord.

14 Turn, you children that have revolted, says the Lord; for I will rule over you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you in to Sion:

Convert, O rebellious sons, says the Lord. For I am your leader. And so, I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will lead you into Zion.

15 and I will give you shepherds after my heart, and they shall certainly tend you with knowledge.

And I will give you pastors according to my own heart. And they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine.

16 And it shall come to pass that when you are multiplied and increased upon the land, says the Lord, in those days they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Holy One of Israel: it shall not come to mind; it shall not be named; neither shall it be visited; nor shall [this] be done any more.

And when you have been multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they will no longer say: ‘The Ark of the covenant of the Lord!’ And it will not enter into the heart, and they will not call it to mind. It will neither be visited, nor made use of, any longer.

17 In those days and at that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered to it: and they shall not walk any more after the imaginations of their evil heart.

In that time, Jerusalem will be called: ‘The Throne of the Lord.’ And all the nations will be gathered to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem. And they will not walk after the depravity of their own most wicked heart.

18 In those days the house of Juda, shall come together to the house of Israel, and they shall come, together, from the land of the north, and from all the countries, to the land, which I caused their fathers to inherit.

In those days, the house of Judah will go to the house of Israel, and they will come from the land of the north, at the same time, to the land that I gave to your fathers.

19 And I said, So be it, Lord, for [you said] I will set you among children, and will give you a choice land, the inheritance of the Almighty God of the Gentiles: and I said, You shall call me Father; and you shall not turn away from me.

But I said: How shall I place you among the sons, and distribute to you a desirable land, the preeminent inheritance of the host of the Gentiles? And I said: You will call me Father, and you will not cease to walk after me.

20 But as a wife acts treacherously against her husband, so has the house of Israel dealt treacherously against me, says the Lord.

But, in the same way that a woman spurns her lover, so also has the house of Israel spurned me, says the Lord.”

21 A voice from the lips was heard, [even] of weeping and supplication of the children of Israel: for they have dealt unrighteously in their ways, they have forgotten God their Holy One.

A voice has been heard in the highways, the weeping and wailing of the sons of Israel. For they have made their own ways sinful; they have forgotten the Lord their God.

22 Turn, you children that are given to turning, and I will heal your bruises. Behold, we will be your servants; for you are the Lord our God.

“Convert, O rebellious sons! And I will heal your rebelliousness.” “Behold, we are returning to you. For you are the Lord our God!

23 Truly the hills and the strength of the mountains were a lying refuge: but by the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

Truly, the hills were liars, with the multitude of the mountains. Truly, the salvation of Israel is in the Lord our God.

24 But shame has consumed the labors of our fathers from our youth; their sheep and their calves, and their sons and their daughters.

Confusion has devoured the labor of our fathers, from our youth, with their flocks and their herds, with their sons and their daughters.

25 We have lain down in our shame, and our disgrace has covered us: because we and our fathers have sinned before our God, from our youth until this day; and we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God.

We will sleep in our confusion, and our disgrace will cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God: we and our fathers, from our youth, even to this day. And we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God.”