Yirmeyahu 3 ירמיהו ג׳

It was said, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; and wilt thou yet return again to me? says the Lord.

Lift up thy eyes to the high places, and see where thou hast not been lain with. On the highways hast thou sat for them, as the ῾Aravian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy harlotries and with thy wickedness.

Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and thou didst have a harlot’s forehead, thou didst refuse to be ashamed.

Wilt thou not from this time cry to me, My father, Thou art the guide of my youth?

Will he bear a grudge for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things and hast had thy way.

The Lord said also to me in the days of Yoshiyyahu the king, Hast thou seen that which faithless Yisra᾽el has done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.

And I said, After she has done all these things, she will return to me. But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Yehuda saw it.

And I saw when, forasmuch as faithless Yisra᾽el had committed adultery, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; that her treacherous sister Yehuda was not afraid but went and played the harlot also.

And it came to pass through the lightness of her harlotry, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with wood.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Yehuda has not turned to me with her whole heart, but in pretence, says the Lord.

And the Lord said to me, Faithless Yisra᾽el has proved herself more just than treacherous Yehuda.

Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return thou faithless Yisra᾽el, says the Lord; and I will not frown upon you: for I am merciful, says the Lord, and I will not bear a grudge for ever.

Only acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the Lord.

Turn, O faithless children, says the Lord; for I have taken you to myself: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Żiyyon:

and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

And it shall come to pass, when you multiply and increase in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: nor shall it come to mind: nor shall they remember it; nor shall they miss it; nor shall that be done any more.

At that time they shall call Yerushalayim the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Yerushalayim: nor shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

In those days the house of Yehuda shall walk with the house of Yisra᾽el, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance to your fathers.

But I said, How shall I put thee among the sons, and give thee a pleasant land, the finest heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and thou shalt not turn away from me.

Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Yisra᾽el, says the Lord.

A voice is heard upon the high hills, weeping and supplications of the children of Yisra᾽el: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God.

Return, faithless children, and I will heal your backslidings. Here we are, we are come to Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God.

Truly from the worship on the hills comes delusion, and from the uproar on the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Yisra᾽el.

For the shameful idolatry has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.