3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers–would you now return to me?” declares the LORD.
3:2 “Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.
3:4 Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth,
3:5 will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.”
3:6 During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.
3:7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.
3:8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.
3:9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
3:10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
3:11 The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
3:12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will not be angry forever.
3:13 Only acknowledge your guilt–you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’” declares the LORD.
3:14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you–one from a town and two from a clan–and bring you to Zion.
3:15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “men will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
3:17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
3:18 In those days the house of Judah will join the house of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your forefathers as an inheritance.
3:19 “I myself said, “‘How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.
3:20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
3:21 A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God.
3:22 “Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to you, for you are the LORD our God.
3:23 Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills and mountains is a deception; surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
3:24 From our youth shameful gods have consumed the fruits of our fathers’ labor–their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
3:25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth till this day we have not obeyed the LORD our God.”
3:1 It is said, / If a man divorces his wife / And she goes from him / And becomes another man s wife, / Will he return to her again? / Will not that land be / Utterly polluted? / But you have committed fornication with many lovers. / Yet return to Me, declares Jehovah.
3:2 Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see: / Where have you not been ravished? / By the roads you sat for them, / Like an Arab in the desert; / And you have polluted the land / With your fornication and your wickedness.
3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, / And there has been no spring rain. / But you have had a harlot s forehead; / You refused to be ashamed.
3:4 Have you not just now called out to Me, My Father, / You are the guide of my youth?
3:5 Will He preserve His anger forever? / Will He keep it perpetually? / This you have spoken; yet you have done what evil things / That you could.
3:6 Then Jehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel the apostate has done? She went up on every high mountain and under every flourishing tree and committed fornication there.
3:7 And I said, After she has done all these things, she will return to Me; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
3:8 And I saw that because of all the adultery that Israel the apostate committed I divorced her and gave her a certificate of divorce, yet her sister Judah the treacherous did not fear but went and committed fornication also.
3:9 And because she treated her fornication lightly, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
3:10 And yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but instead falsely, declares Jehovah.
3:11 And Jehovah said to me, Israel the apostate has shown herself to be more righteous than Judah the treacherous.
3:12 Go and proclaim these words to the north, and say, / Return, O Israel the apostate, declares Jehovah; / And I will not let My countenance fall toward you; / For I am merciful, declares Jehovah; / I will not keep My anger forever.
3:13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, / That you have transgressed against Jehovah your God / And have turned your ways here and there to strangers under every / flourishing tree, / And have not listened to My voice, declares Jehovah.
3:14 Return, O apostate children, declares Jehovah, for I am a Husband to you; and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and will bring you to Zion.
3:15 And I will give you shepherds according to My own heart, who will feed you knowledge and understanding.
3:16 And when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares Jehovah, they will no longer say, The Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah! And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it or visit it; and it will not be made again.
3:17 At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations will be gathered to it because the name of Jehovah is at Jerusalem; and they will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
3:18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land which I have given to their fathers as an inheritance.
3:19 But I said, / How I will put you among the sons, / And give you a pleasant land, / An inheritance of the most ornate of the nations! / And I said, You will call Me, My Father, / And will not turn away from Me.
3:20 Surely as a woman acts treacherously by departing from her husband, / So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, declares / Jehovah.
3:21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, / The weeping, the supplications, of the children of Israel; / For they have perverted their way; / They have forgotten Jehovah their God.
3:22 Return, O apostate children; / I will heal you of your apostasies. / Now we come to You, / For You are Jehovah our God.
3:23 Surely in vain have we hoped for anything from the hills; / The mountains are a tumult; / Surely in Jehovah our God / Is the salvation of Israel.
3:24 But shame has devoured the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
3:25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, since our youth even unto this day; and we have not listened to the voice of Jehovah our God.