Jeremiah 3:12-22

12Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say, ‘Return, unfaithful Israel. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in my love. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will not be angry forever.

13Only acknowledge your guilt  — you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed me. This is the Lord’s declaration.

14“‘Return, you faithless children  — this is the Lord’s declaration — for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

15I will give you shepherds who are loyal to me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill.

16When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days — this is the Lord’s declaration — no one will say again, “The ark of the Lord’s covenant.” It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. Another one will not be made.

17At that time Jerusalem will be called The Lord’s Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

18In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.’”

19I thought, “How I long to make you my sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.” I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father’ and never turn away from me.”

20However, as a woman may betray her lover, so you have betrayed me, house of Israel. This is the Lord’s declaration.

21A sound is heard on the barren heights: the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, for they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the Lord their God.

22Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. “Here we are, coming to you, for you are the Lord our God.