The Polluted Land

1God [†]says, “If a husband divorces his wife

And she goes from him

And belongs to another man,

Will he still return to her?

Will not that land be completely [†]polluted?

But you are a harlot with many [†]lovers;

Yet you turn to Me,” declares Yahweh.

2“Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see;

Where have you not been ravished?

By the roads you have sat for them

Like [†]an Arab in the wilderness,

And you have polluted a land

With your harlotry and with your evil.

3Therefore the showers have been withheld,

And the [†]late rain has not [†]come.

Yet you had a harlot’s forehead;

You refused to feel dishonor.

4Have you not just now called to Me,

‘My Father, You are the [†]close companion of my youth?

5Will He be angry forever?

Will He keep it to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken

And have done evil things,

And you have [†]had your way.”

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

6Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. 7I 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. 8And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. 9So it was, because of the lightness of her harlotry, that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in lying,” declares Yahweh.

11And Yahweh said to me, “Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go and call out these words toward the north and say,

‘[†]Return, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh;

‘I will not [†]look upon you in anger.

For I am One of lovingkindness,’ declares Yahweh;

‘I will not be angry forever.

13Only [†]acknowledge your iniquity,

That you have transgressed against Yahweh your God

And have scattered your ways of harlotry to the strangers under every green tree,

And you have not listened to My voice,’ declares Yahweh.

14‘[†]Return, O faithless sons,’ declares Yahweh;

‘For I am a master to you,

And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,

And I will bring you to Zion.’

15“Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will [†]shepherd you on knowledge and understanding. 16It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and fruitful in the land,” declares Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come upon the heart, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of Yahweh; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18In 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 that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

19“Then I said,

‘How I would set you among [†]My sons

And give you a pleasant land,

The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’

And I said, ‘You shall call Me, “My Father,”

And not turn away from following Me.’

20Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her [†]lover,

So you have dealt treacherously with Me,

O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.

21A voice is heard on the bare heights,

The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel;

Because they have perverted their way,

They have forgotten Yahweh their God.

22[†]“Return, O faithless sons;

I will heal your faithlessness.”

“Behold, we come to You,

For You are Yahweh our God.

23Surely, the hills are a lie,

A tumult on the mountains.

Surely in Yahweh our God

Is the salvation of Israel.

24“But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God.”