| 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. |
