Jeremiah 3:12-22

12Go and proclaim these words toward the north [where the ten tribes have been taken as captives] and say, ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not look on you in anger. For I am gracious and merciful,’ says the Lord; ‘I will not be angry forever.

13Only understand fully and acknowledge your wickedness and guilt, That you have rebelled (transgressed) against the Lord your God And have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.

14‘Return, O faithless children [of the twelve tribes],’ says the Lord, ‘For I am a master and husband to you, And I will take you [not as a nation, but individually]—one from a city and two from a [tribal] family— And I will bring you to Zion.’

15“Then [in the final time] I will give you [spiritual] shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and [true] understanding.

16It will be in those days when you have [repented and] multiplied and increased in the land,” says the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will not come to mind, nor will they [seriously] remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again [for instead of the ark, which symbolized My presence, I will be present].

17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name (renown) of the Lord; and they will not walk anymore after the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart.

18In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

19“Then I said, ‘How [gloriously and honorably] I would set you among My children And give you a pleasant land—a wonderful heritage, The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father And not turn away from following Me.’

20Surely, as a wife treacherously (unfaithfully) leaves her husband, So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” says the Lord.

21A voice is heard on the barren heights, The weeping and pleading of the children of Israel, Because they have lost their way, They have [deliberately] forgotten the Lord their God.

22“Return, O faithless sons,” [says the Lord], “I will heal your unfaithfulness.” [They answer] “Behold, we come to You, For You are the Lord our God.