| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Wouldn't such a land become totally defiled? But you! You have played the prostitute with many partners-- can you return to Me? This is the LORD's declaration. | 1“If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the LORD. |
| 2Look to the barren heights and see. Where have you not been immoral? You sat waiting for them beside the highways like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. | 2“Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness. |
| 3This is why the showers haven't come-- why there has been no spring rain. You have the brazen look of a prostitute and refuse to be ashamed. | 3That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless. |
| 4Have you not lately called to Me, "My Father. You were my friend in my youth. | 4Yet you say to me, ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth. |
| 5Will He bear a grudge forever? Will He be endlessly infuriated?" This is what you have said, but you have done the evil things you are capable of. | 5Surely you won’t be angry forever! Surely you can forget about it!’ So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can.” Judah Follows Israel’s Example |
| 6In the days of King Josiah the LORD asked me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there. | 6During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. |
| 7I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. | 7I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. |
| 8I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself. | 8She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. |
| 9Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. | 9Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. |
| 10Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn't return to Me with all her heart--only in pretense." This is the LORD's declaration. | 10But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the LORD, have spoken!” Hope for Wayward Israel |
| 11The LORD announced to me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. | 11Then the LORD said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! |
| 12Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say: Return, unfaithful Israel. This is the LORD's declaration. I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in My love. This is the LORD's declaration. I will not be angry forever. | 12Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the LORD says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever. |
| 13Only acknowledge your guilt-- you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice. This is the LORD's declaration. | 13Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the LORD, have spoken! |
| 14"Return, you faithless children"--this is the LORD's declaration--"for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. | 14“Return home, you wayward children,” says the LORD, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel — one from this town and two from that family— from wherever you are scattered. |
| 15I will give you shepherds who are loyal to Me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill. | 15And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding. |
| 16When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days"--the LORD's declaration--"no one will say any longer, 'The ark of the LORD's covenant.' It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. It will never again be made. | 16“And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the LORD, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. |
| 17At that time Jerusalem will be called, Yahweh's Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. | 17In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the LORD.’ All nations will come there to honor the LORD. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. |
| 18In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit." | 18In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever. |
| 19I thought: How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations. I thought: You will call Me, my Father, and never turn away from Me. | 19“I thought to myself, ‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’ I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land— the finest possession in the world. I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’ and I wanted you never to turn from me. |
| 20However, as a woman may betray her lover, so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel. This is the LORD's declaration. | 20But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel! You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband. I, the LORD, have spoken.” |
| 21A sound is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, for they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God. | 21Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people. For they have chosen crooked paths and have forgotten the LORD their God. |
| 22Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness. "Here we are, coming to You, for You are the LORD our God. | 22“My wayward children,” says the LORD, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.” “Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply, “for you are the LORD our God. |
| 23Surely, falsehood comes from the hills, commotion from the mountains, but the salvation of Israel is only in the LORD our God. | 23Our worship of idols on the hills and our religious orgies on the mountains are a delusion. Only in the LORD our God will Israel ever find salvation. |
| 24From the time of our youth the shameful one has consumed what our fathers have worked for-- their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. | 24From childhood we have watched as everything our ancestors worked for— their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters— was squandered on a delusion. |
| 25Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers, from the time of our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God." | 25Let us now lie down in shame and cover ourselves with dishonor, for we and our ancestors have sinned against the LORD our God. From our childhood to this day we have never obeyed him.” |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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