Jeremiah 2:35

35you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.’
aBehold, I will bring you to judgment
for bsaying, ‘I have not sinned.’

Jeremiah 3

1 cIf
Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew Saying, “If
a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
eWould not that land be greatly polluted?
fYou have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.
2Lift up your eyes to gthe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
hBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
iYou have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 jTherefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have kthe forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4Have you not just now lcalled to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth
5 mwill 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

6The Lord said to me in the days of nKing Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, ohow she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there pplayed the whore? 7And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous qsister Judah saw it. 8She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, rI had sent her away with sa decree of divorce. tYet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went uand played the whore. 9Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with vstone and tree. 10Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me wwith her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

11And the Lord said to me, xFaithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words toward ythe north, and say,

z“‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for aaI am merciful,

declares the Lord;
abI will not be angry forever.
13 acOnly acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under adevery green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.
14 aeReturn, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;
affor I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15“‘And agI will give you shepherds after my own heart, ahwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16And when you have multiplied and been fruitful 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. 17At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, aiand all nations shall gather to it, ajto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 akIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land alof the north to amthe land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19 “‘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 ancall me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 aoSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’”
21 A voice on the apbare heights is heard,
aqthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 arReturn, O faithless sons;
asI will heal your faithlessness.”
Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23Truly atthe hills are a delusion,
the orgies
Hebrew commotion
on the mountains.
avTruly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24“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. 25 awLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For axwe have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

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