Jeremiah 3:6-25

6Then the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She 1went up on every high hill and under every leafy tree, and she prostituted herself there. 7Yet 2I 3thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her 4treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8And I saw that for all the 5adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and 6given her a certificate of divorce, yet her 7treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and prostituted herself also. 9And because of the thoughtlessness of her prostitution, she 8defiled the land and committed 9adultery with 10stones and trees. 10Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in 11deception,” declares the Lord.

11And the Lord said to me, “12Faithless Israel has proved herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, ‘13Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord; ‘14I will not 15look at you in anger. For I am 16gracious,’ declares the Lord; ‘I will not be angry forever.13Only 1718acknowledge your wrongdoing, That you have revolted against the Lord your God, And have 19scattered your 20favors to the strangers 21under every leafy tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.14‘Return, you faithless sons,’ declares the Lord; ‘For I am a 22master to you, And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, And 23bring you to Zion.’

15“Then I will give you 24shepherds 25after My own heart, who will 26feed you knowledge and understanding. 16And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will 27no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The 28Throne of the Lord,’ and 29all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the 30name of the Lord; and they will no longer 31follow the stubbornness of their evil heart. 1832In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together 33from the land of the north to the 34land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

19“Then I said, ‘How I would set you among 35My sons And give you a pleasant land, The most 36beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, 37My Father, And not turn away from following Me.’20However, as a woman treacherously leaves her lover, So you have 38dealt treacherously with Me, House of Israel,” declares the Lord.

21A voice is heard on the 39bare heights, The weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel. Because they have perverted their way, They have 40forgotten the Lord their God.22“Return, you faithless sons, 41I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to You; For You are the Lord our God.23Certainly 42the hills are a deception, 43Commotion on the mountains. Certainly in the 44Lord our God Is the salvation of Israel.

24“But 45the shame has consumed the product of our fathers’ labor since our youth--their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our 46shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, 47from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”