1They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, will he return to her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says Yehovah. 2Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see; where have you not been lain with? By the ways have you sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your whoredoms and with your wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you had a prostitute’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed. 4Will you not from this time cry to me, My Father, you are the guide of my youth? 5Will he retain his anger forever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way. 6Moreover Yehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute. 7And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me; but she did not return: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah her sister did not fear; but she also went and played the prostitute. 9And it happened through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, says Yehovah. 11And Yehovah said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, backsliding Israel, says Yehovah; I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, says Yehovah, I will not keep anger forever. 13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against Yehovah your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says Yehovah. 14Return, O backsliding children, says Yehovah; for I am a husband to you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16And it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Yehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yehovah; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more. 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Yehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Yehovah, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18In 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 gave for an inheritance to your fathers. 19But I said, How I will put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, You shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. 20Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Yehovah. 21A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yehovah their God. 22Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yehovah our God. 23Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Yehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. 24But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Yehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Yehovah our God.