God asks why faithless Israel and Judah have acted like an unfaithful wife, and invites them to return. He promises shepherds after his own heart and a time when Jerusalem will be called the throne of the LORD.
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 .