Jeremiah 3:12-22

12Go and proclaim these things to the north: “ ‘Come back, unfaithful Israel. It is the Lord speaking. I will no longer frown on you because I’m merciful,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will no longer be angry with you.

13Admit that you’ve done wrong! You have rebelled against the Lord your God. You have given yourself to strangers under every large tree. You have not obeyed me,’ declares the Lord.

14“Come back, you rebellious people,” declares the Lord. “I’m your husband. I will take you, one from every city and two from every family, and bring you to Zion.

15I will give you shepherds after my own heart. They will be shepherds who feed you with knowledge and insight.

16In those days you will be fertile, and your population will increase in the land,” declares the Lord. “People will no longer talk about the ark of the Lord’s promise. It will no longer come to mind. They won’t remember it, miss it, or make another one.

17At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. All nations will gather in Jerusalem because the name of the Lord will be found there. They will no longer follow their own stubborn, evil ways.

18In those days the nation of Judah will live with the nation of Israel. They will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave their ancestors as their own property.

19“I wanted to treat you like children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful property among the nations. I thought that you would call me Father and wouldn’t turn away from me.

20But like a wife who betrays her husband, so you, nation of Israel, betrayed me,” declares the Lord.

21The sound of crying is heard on the hills. It is the crying and the pleading of the people of Israel. They have become crooked and have forgotten the Lord their God.

22“Come back, you rebellious people, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful.” Here we are! We have come to you because you are the Lord our God.