3:1 They say, If a man shall put away his wife, and she shall go
from him, and become another man's, shall he return to 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.
3:2 Lift up thy eyes to the high places, and see where thou hast
not been lain with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the
Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with
thy acts of lewdness, and with thy wickedness.
3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there hath
been no latter rain? and thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou
refusedst to be ashamed.
3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry to me, My father, thou
[art] the guide of my youth?
3:5 Will he retain [his anger] for ever? will he keep [it] to
the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou
couldst.
3:6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king,
Hast thou seen [that] which backsliding Israel hath done? she
hath gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green
tree, and there hath played the harlot.
3:7 And I said after she had done all these [things], Turn thou
to me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah
saw [it].
3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes by which 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.
3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her lewdness,
that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones
and with stocks.
3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not
turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the
LORD.
3:11 And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel hath
justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
3:12 Go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say,
Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; [and] I will
not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I [am] merciful, saith
the LORD, [and] I will not keep [anger] for ever.
3:13 Only acknowledge thy 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.
3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am
married to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Zion:
3:15 And I will give you pastors according to my heart, who
shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall 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.
3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the
LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name
of the LORD, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more
after the imagination of their evil heart.
3:18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house
of Israel, and they shall come together from the land of the
north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your
fathers.
3:19 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.
3:20 Surely [as] a wife treacherously departeth from her
husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of
Israel, saith the LORD.
3:21 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.
3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your
backslidings. Behold, we come to thee; for thou [art] the LORD
our God.
3:23 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.
3:24 For shame hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our
youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their
daughters.
3:25 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 to this day, and have not obeyed
the voice of the LORD our God.
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