|
Chapter 3 |
| 1 | They say, If a
man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he
return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast
played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the
LORD. |
| 2 |
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou
hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in
the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy
wickedness. |
| 3
| Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there
hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to
be ashamed. |
| 4
| Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou
art the guide of my youth? |
|
5 | Will he reserve his anger for ever?
will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as
thou couldest. |
|
6 | The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the
king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up
upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the
harlot. |
| 7 |
And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto
me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. |
| 8 |
And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed
adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her
treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
|
| 9 | And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she
defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
|
| 10 | And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto
me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. |
| 11 | And the LORD
said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than
treacherous Judah. |
| 12 | Go and proclaim these words toward the
north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not
cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I
will not keep anger for ever. |
|
13 | Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that
thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to
the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith
the LORD. |
| 14
| Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am
married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I
will bring you to Zion: |
| 15 | And I will give you pastors according to
mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. |
| 16 |
And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in
those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of
the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it;
neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. |
| 17 |
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the
nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem:
neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil
heart. |
| 18
| In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the
house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to
the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. |
| 19 |
But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant
land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call
me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. |
| 20 | Surely as a
wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously
with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. |
|
21 | A voice was heard upon
the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they
have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
|
| 22 | Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.
Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. |
| 23 | Truly in
vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of
mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. |
| 24 |
For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks
and their herds, their sons and their daughters. |
| 25 | We lie down
in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the
LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have
not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God. |
