That they abandoned Me
And went after delusion and were deluded?
6They never asked themselves, “Where is the LORD,
Who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the wilderness,
A land of deserts and pits,
A land of drought and darkness,
A land no man had traversed,
Where no human being had dwelt?”
7I brought you to this country of farm land
To enjoy its fruit and its bounty;
But you came and defiled My land,
You made My possession abhorrent.
8The priests never asked themselves, “Where is the LORD?”
The guardians of the Teaching ignored Me;
The rulersa rebelled against Me,
And the prophets prophesied by Baal
And followed what can do no good.
9Oh, I will go on accusing you
—declares the LORD—
And I will accuse your children’s children!
10Just cross over to the isles of the Kittim and look,
Send to Kedar and observe carefully;
See if aught like this has ever happened:
11Has any nation changed its gods
Even though they are no-gods?
But My people has exchanged its glory
For what can do no good.
12Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
Be horrified, utterly dazed!
—says the LORD.
13For My people have done a twofold wrong:
They have forsaken Me, the Fount of living waters,
And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,
Which cannot even hold water.
14Is Israel a bondman?
Is he a home-born slave?
Then why is he given over to plunder?
15Lions have roared over him,
Have raised their cries.
They have made his land a waste,
His cities desolate, without inhabitants.
16Those, too, in Noph and Tahpanhesb
c-Will lay bare-c your head.
17See, d-that is the price you have paid
For forsaking the LORD your God-d
c-While He led you in the way.-c
18What, then, is the good of your going to Egypt
To drink the waters of the Nile?
And what is the good of your going to Assyria
To drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19Let your misfortune reprove you,
Let your afflictions rebuke you;
Mark well how bad and bitter it is
That you forsake the LORD your God,
That awe for Me is not in you
—declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
20For long ago youe broke your yoke,
Tore off your yoke-bands,
And said, “I will not work!”f
On every high hill and under every verdant tree,
You recline as a whore.
21I planted you with noble vines,
All with choicest seed;
Alas, I find you changed
Into a base, an alien vine!
22Though you wash with natron
And use much lye,
Your guilt is ingrained before Me
—declares the Lord GOD.
23How can you say, “I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baalim”?
Look at your deeds in the Valley,g
Consider what you have done!
Like a lustful she-camel,
c-Restlessly running about,-c
24Or like a wild ass used to the desert,
Snuffing the wind in her eagerness,
Whose passion none can restrain,
None that seek her need grow weary—
In her season, they’ll find her!
25Save your foot from going bare,
And your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It is no use.
No, I love the strangers,h
And after them I must go.”
26Like a thief chagrined when he is caught,
So is the House of Israel chagrined—
They, their kings, their officers,
And their priests and prophets.
27They said to wood, “You are my father,”
To stone, “You gave birth to me,”
While to Me they turned their backs
And not their faces.
But in their hour of calamity they cry,
“Arise and save us!”
28And where are those gods
You made for yourself?
Let them arise and save you, if they can,
In your hour of calamity.
For your gods have become, O Judah,
As many as your towns!
29Why do you call Me to account?
You have all rebelled against Me
—declares the LORD.
30To no purpose did I smite your children;
They would not accept correction.
Your sword has devoured your prophets
Like a ravening lion.
31 c-O generation, behold-c the word of the LORD!
Have I been like a desert to Israel,
Or like a land of deep gloom?
Then why do My people say, “We have broken loose,
We will not come to You any more?”
32Can a maiden forget her jewels,
A bride her adornments?
Yet My people have forgotten Me—
Days without number.
33How skillfully you plan your way
To seek out love!
Why, you have even taught
The worst of women your ways.
34Moreover, on your garments is found
The lifeblood of the innocent poor—
You did not catch them breaking in.i
c-Yet, despite all these things,-c
35You say, “I have been acquitted;
Surely, His anger has turned away from me.”
Lo, I will bring you to judgment
For saying, “I have not sinned.”
36How you cheapen yourself,
By changing your course!
You shall be put to shame through Egypt,
Just as you were put to shame through Assyria.
37From this way, too, you will come out
j-With your hands on your head;-j
For the LORD has rejected those you trust,
You will not prosper with them.
3 [The word of the LORD came to me] as follows: If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and marries another man, can he ever go back to her? Would not such a land be defiled?a Now you have whored with many lovers: can you return to Me?—says the LORD.
2Look up to the bare heights, and see:
Where have they not lain with you?
You waited for them on the roadside
Like a banditb in the wilderness.
And you defiled the land
With your whoring and your debauchery.
3And when showers were withheld
And the late rains did not come,
You had the brazennessc of a street woman,
You refused to be ashamed.
4Just now you called to Me, “Father!
You are the Companion of my youth.
5Does one hated for all time?
Does one raged forever?”
That is how you spoke;
You did wrong, and e-had your way.-e
6The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what Rebel Israel did, going to every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and whoring there? 7I thought: After she has done all these things, she will come back to Me. But she did not come back; and her sister, Faithless Judah, saw it. 8I noted: Because Rebel Israel had committed adultery, I cast her off and handed her a bill of divorce; yet her sister, Faithless Judah, was not afraid—she too went and whored. 9Indeed, the land was defiled by her casual immorality, as she committed adultery with stone and with wood.f 10And after all that, her sister, Faithless Judah, did not return to Me wholeheartedly, but insincerely—declares the LORD.
11And the LORD said to me: Rebel Israel has shown herself more in the right than Faithless Judah. 12Go, make this proclamation toward the north, and say: Turn back, O Rebel Israel—declares the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am compassionate—declares the LORD; I do not bear a grudge for all time. 13Only recognize your sin; for you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and scattered your favorsg among strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not heeded Me—declares the LORD.
14Turn back, rebellious children—declares the LORD. Since I have espousedh you, I will take you, one from a town and two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. 15And I will give you shepherdse after My own heart, who will pasture you with knowledge and skill.
16And when you increase and are fertile in the land, in those days— declares the LORD—men shall no longer speak of the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, nor shall it come to mind. They shall not mention it, or miss it, or make another. 17At that time, they shall call Jerusalem “Throne of the LORD,” and all nations shall assemble there, in the name of the LORD, at Jerusalem. Theyi shall no longer follow the willfulness of their evil hearts. 18In those days, the House of Judah shall go with the House of Israel; they shall come together from the land of the north to the land I gave your fathers as a possession.
19I had resolved to adopt you as My child, and I gave you a desirable land—the fairest heritage of all the nations; and I thought you would surely call Me “Father,” and never cease to be loyal to Me. 20Instead, you have broken faith with Me, as a woman breaks faith with a paramour, O House of Israel—declares the LORD.
21Hark! On the bare heights is heard
The suppliant weeping of the people of Israel,
For they have gone a crooked way,
Ignoring the LORD their God.
22Turn back, O rebellious children,
I will heal your afflictions!
“Here we are, we come to You,
For You, O LORD, are our God!
23 j-Surely, futility comes from the hills,
Confusion from the mountains.-j
Only through the LORD our God
Is there deliverance for Israel.
24But the Shameful Thingk has consumed
The possessions of our fathers ever since our youth—
Their flocks and herds,
Their sons and daughters.
25Let us lie down in our shame,
Let our disgrace cover us;
For we have sinned against the LORD our God,
We and our fathers from our youth to this day,
And we have not heeded the LORD our God.”
4
If you return, O Israel
—declares the LORD—
If you return to Me,
If you remove your abominations from My presence
And do not waver,
2And a-swear, “As the LORD lives,”-a
In sincerity, justice, and righteousness—
Nations shall bless themselves by youb
And praise themselves by you.b
3For thus said the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem:
Break up the untilled ground,
And do not sow among thorns.
4Openc your hearts to the LORD,
Remove the thickening about your hearts—
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem—
Lest My wrath break forth like fire,
And burn, with none to quench it,
Because of your wicked acts.
5Proclaim in Judah,
Announce in Jerusalem,
And say:
“Blow the horn in the land!”
Shout aloud and say:
“Assemble, and let us go
Into the fortified cities!”
6Set up a signpost: To Zion.
Take refuge, do not delay!
For I bring evil from the north,
And great disaster.
7The lion has come up from his thicket:
The destroyer of nations has set out,
Has departed from his place,
To make your land a desolation;
Your cities shall be ruined,
Without inhabitants.
8For this, put on sackcloth,
Mourn and wail;
For the blazing anger of the LORD
Has not turned away from us.
9And in that day
—declares the LORD—
The mind of the king
And the mind of the nobles shall fail,
The priests shall be appalled,
And
