Jubilee2000 - Jeremiah - 3

3:1  They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, shall he return unto her again? Is she not a land that is now completely polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, said the LORD.

3:2  Lift up thine eyes unto the high places and see if there is anywhere thou hast not been ravished. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

3:3  Therefore the rain has been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and thou dost have a whore's forehead, thou dost refuse to be ashamed.

3:4  Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou [art] the guide of my youth?

3:5  Will he reserve [his anger] for ever? will he keep [it] to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done as many evil things as thou could.

3:6  The LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen [that] which rebellious Israel has done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.

3:7  And I said after she had done all these [things], Turn thou unto me. But she did not return. And her rebellious sister Judah saw [it].

3:8  And I saw when for all the causes by which rebellious Israel committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce; yet her rebellious sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

3:9  And it came to pass through [her judging] her whoredom to be a light [thing] that the land became defiled and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

3:10  And yet for all this her rebellious sister Judah has never turned unto me with her whole heart, but untruthfully, said the LORD.

3:11  And the LORD said unto me, The rebellious Israel has justified her soul in comparison to the treacherous Judah.

3:12  Go and proclaim these words toward the north [wind] and say, Return, thou rebellious Israel, said the LORD [and] I will not cause my anger to fall upon you; for I [am] merciful, said the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for ever.

3:13  Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast rebelled against the LORD thy God and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not heard my voice, said the LORD.

3:14  Turn, O rebellious sons, said the LORD; for I am your Lord, and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

3:15  And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

3:16  And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land; in those days, said the LORD, they shall no longer say, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit [it]; neither shall [that] be done any more.

3:17  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the Gentiles shall congregate unto it in the name of the LORD in Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the hardness of their evil heart.

3:18  In those times they shall go out from the house of Judah unto the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north [wind] to the land which I caused your fathers to inherit.

3:19  But I said, How shall I place thee as sons and give thee the desirable land, the heritage that the hosts of Gentiles desire? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father and shalt not turn away from following me.

3:20  Surely [as] the woman breaks the faith of her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, said the LORD.

3:21  A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping of the supplications of the sons of Israel; for they have perverted their way, [and] they have forgotten the LORD their God.

3:22  Return, ye rebellious sons, [and] I will heal your rebellion. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou [art] the LORD our God.

3:23  Truly the hills are vanity, the multitude of mountains; truly in the LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel.

3:24  For shame has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not hearkened unto the voice of the LORD our God.: