3 “If a man divorces a woman says the LORD. 2 “Look at the shrines on every hilltop. and your wickedness. 3 That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless. 4 Yet you say to me, ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth. 5 Surely you won’t be angry forever! but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”
Judah Follows Israel’s Example
6 During 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. 7 I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. 8 She 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. 9 Israel 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. 10 But 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
11 Then the LORD said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! 12 Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the LORD says: I will not be angry with you forever. 13 Only acknowledge your guilt. I, the LORD, have spoken! 14 “Return home, you wayward children,” from wherever you are scattered. 15 And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding. 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. 17 In 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. 18 In 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. 19 “I thought to myself, and I wanted you never to turn from me. 20 But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel! I, the LORD, have spoken.” 21 Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, and have forgotten the LORD their God. 22 “My wayward children,” says the LORD, “for you are the LORD our God. 23 Our worship of idols on the hills will Israel ever find salvation. 24 From childhood we have watched was squandered on a delusion. 25 Let us now lie down in shame we have never obeyed him.”