1
It is said: “If an ish sends away his ishah, and she goes from him and becomes another ish’s, shall he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled?” But you have committed whoredom with many companions; yet return to Me,” declares Yahuah.
2
“Lift your eyes to the bare heights and see: where have you not been lain with? By the ways you sat for them, like an Aravian in the wilderness. And you defiled the land with your whoredoms and your evil.
3
Therefore the showers were withheld, and there was no latter rain. Yet the forehead of an ishah committing whoredom was yours; you refused to be ashamed.
4
Shall you not from now call to Me, ‘My Father, You are the Companion of my youth’?
5
Shall He guard anger forever? Shall He keep it to the end? See, you have spoken, and you have done the evil things you were able to do.”
6
And Yahuah said to me in the days of Yoshiyahu the sovereign, “Have you seen what turning-away Yisra’el did? She went upon every high mountain and beneath every green tree, and there she committed whoredom.
7
And after she did all these, I said, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Yehudah saw.
8
And I saw that because of all the causes for which turning-away Yisra’el committed adultery, I sent her away and gave her a scroll of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Yehudah did not fear, but went and committed whoredom also.
9
And it came to be, through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and with tree.
10
Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Yehudah did not return to Me with all her heart, but in falsehood,” declares Yahuah.
11
And Yahuah said to me, “Turning-away Yisra’el has shown her being more righteous than treacherous Yehudah.
12
Go and call these Words toward the north, and say: ‘Return, turning-away Yisra’el,’ declares Yahuah. ‘I shall not cause My face to fall upon you, for I am covenant-faithful,’ declares Yahuah. ‘I shall not guard anger forever.
13
Only know your crookedness: that you transgressed against Yahuah your Elohim, scattered your ways to strangers beneath every green tree, and did not hear My voice,’” declares Yahuah.
14
“Return, turning-away sons,” declares Yahuah, “for I am Husband over you. I shall take you, one from a city and two from a family, and bring you to Tziyon.
15
And I shall give you shepherds according to My heart, and they shall shepherd you with knowledge and understanding.
16
And it shall be, when you multiply and bear fruit in the land in those days,” declares Yahuah, “they shall no longer say, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of Yahuah.’ It shall not rise upon the heart; they shall not remember it, nor visit it, nor shall it be made again.
17
At that time they shall call Yerushalayim the Throne of Yahuah. And all nations shall be gathered to it, to the Name of Yahuah, to Yerushalayim. And they shall no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18
In those days the House of Yehudah shall walk with the House of Yisra’el, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land I gave as an Inheritance to your fathers.
19
And I said, ‘How shall I place you among the sons and give you a desirable land, an Inheritance of beauty among the hosts of nations?’ And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father, and shall not turn from following Me.’
20
Surely as an ishah deals treacherously against her companion, so you have dealt treacherously against Me, House of Yisra’el,” declares Yahuah.
21
A voice is heard upon the bare heights— the weeping, the supplications of the sons of Yisra’el— because they twisted their Way and forgot Yahuah their Elohim.
22
“Return, turning-away sons; I shall heal your turning away.” “See, we come to You, for You are Yahuah our Elohim.
23
Surely falsehood comes from the hills, the tumult upon the mountains. Surely in Yahuah our Elohim is the Salvation of Yisra’el.
24
But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth— their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25
We lie down in our shame, and our humiliation covers us, for we have sinned against Yahuah our Elohim— we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day— and we have not heard the voice of Yahuah our Elohim.”