Jer 3:6-25 | ESV | STEP | The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah : Have you seen what she did , that faithless one , Israel , how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree , and there played the whore ?

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

11 And the Lord said to me, ^k“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward ^lthe north, and say,

^m“‘Return, faithless Israel,

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

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

declares the Lord.
14 ^rReturn, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;
^sfor 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 ^tI will give you shepherds after my own heart, ^uwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And 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. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, ^vand all nations shall gather to it, ^wto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 ^xIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land ^yof the north to ^zthe 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 ^aacall me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 ^abSurely, 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 ^acbare heights is heard,
^adthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 ^ae“Return, O faithless sons;
^afI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly ^agthe hills are a delusion,
the orgies ^{▼▼Hebrew commotion} on the mountains.
^aiTruly 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 ^ajLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For ^akwe 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.”