Jeremiah 3

The Polluted Land

1God 1says, “2If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man, Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely 3polluted? But you 4are a harlot with many 5lovers; Yet you 6turn to Me,” declares the Lord.2“Lift up your eyes to the 7bare heights and see; Where have you not been violated? By the roads you have 8sat for them Like an Arab in the desert, And you have 9polluted a land With your harlotry and with your wickedness.3Therefore the 10showers have been withheld, And there has been no spring rain. Yet you had a 11harlot’s forehead; You refused to be ashamed.4Have you not just now called to Me, ‘12My Father, You are the 1314friend of my 15youth?516Will He be angry forever? Will He 17be indignant to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken And have done evil things, And you have 18had your way.”

Faithless Israel

6Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She 19went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. 720I 21thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her 22treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and 23given her a writ of divorce, yet her 24treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. 9Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she 25polluted the land and committed adultery with 26stones and trees. 10Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in 27deception,” declares the Lord.

God Invites Repentance

11And the Lord said to me, “28Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, ‘29Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord; ‘30I will not 31look upon you in anger. For I am 32gracious,’ declares the Lord; ‘I will not be angry forever.13Only 3334acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the Lord your God And have 35scattered your 36favors to the strangers 37under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.14‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the Lord; ‘For I am a 38master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And 39I will bring you to Zion.’

15“Then I will give you 40shepherds after My own heart, who will 41feed you on knowledge and understanding. 16It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will 42no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The 43Throne of the Lord,’ and 44all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the 45name of the Lord; nor will they 46walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 1847In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together 48from the land of the north to the 49land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

19“Then I said, ‘How I would set you among 50My sons And give you a pleasant land, The most 51beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, 52My Father, And not turn away from following Me.’20Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her 53lover, So you have 54dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.

21A voice is heard on the 55bare heights, The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; Because they have perverted their way, They have 56forgotten the Lord their God.22“Return, O faithless sons, 57I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to You; For You are the Lord our God.23Surely, 58the hills are a deception, A tumult on the mountains. Surely in the 59Lord our God Is the salvation of Israel.

24“But 60the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our 61shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, 62from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”