Jeremiah 3:1-25

Here’s what YAHWEH says: “If a man divorces his wife and she marries another, would he return to her again? Doing that would thoroughly defile the land. And you, Israel, have prostituted yourself with many lovers, yet now you want to come back to me? I, YAHWEH, have spoken. “Look up to the barren heights and carefully consider: Is there any place where you have not offered yourself as a prostitute? You have sat by the roadside waiting for lovers, sitting like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. Therefore, I have withheld the rains, and the spring showers have not come. Yet, there you sit with the shameless, brazen look of a prostitute who refuses to blush. And yet you have the nerve to say to me, ‘Father! You’ve been my trusted companion as long as I’ve lived. Surely, you won’t hold a grudge against me forever, right? You won’t always be angry with me, will you?’ This is only what you say, but you keep on doing all the evil you can get away with!” During Josiah’s reign as king of Judah, YAHWEH asked me, “Did you see what unfaithful Israel has done? Like an adulterous wife, she has turned away from me. In every high place and under every green tree, she has prostituted herself to worship other gods. I thought that after all she had done, she would return to me, but she did not return. Meanwhile her treacherous sister, Judah, looked on. She saw me give unfaithful Israel her divorce papers and send her away because of her continued adultery. Her treacherous sister, Judah, likewise had no fear; she, too, acted like a prostitute. Her infidelity mattered little to her. She polluted the land and committed adultery by worshiping idolatrous stone and wood pillars. Even after all this, Israel’s treacherous sister, Judah, refused to return to me with her whole heart; instead, she came with only deceitful lies,” declared YAHWEH. And YAHWEH continued, “Even unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go and carry this message to those living in the north: “ ‘YAHWEH is speaking to you, unfaithful Israel: Return to me. For my faithful love for you never ends. No frown of mine awaits you, declares YAHWEH. I will not remain angry with you forever, for I am merciful, declares YAHWEH. Only admit your guilt! You have rebelled against YAHWEH your God. You have lavished your love on foreign gods under every green tree. You have not listened to my voice. I, YAHWEH, have spoken.’ ” “ ‘I say to you, Come back to me, my wayward children, and I will restore you. I will take you, one from each city and two from each clan, and bring you home to Zion because I alone am your true husband.’ ” “ ‘I will give you true shepherds who follow my heart, and they will feed you with revelation-knowledge and deep understanding.’ ” YAHWEH says, “When my children have increased and prospered in the land, then no one will mention the ark of the covenant of YAHWEH. It will never even come to mind. No one will remember it, miss it, or make another one. When that day comes, they will call Jerusalem the throne of YAHWEH. All nations will be drawn there to be in the presence of YAHWEH. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil hearts. In those days, the nation of Judah will unite with the nation of Israel. And together, they will return from the northern lands to the land that I gave your ancestors as your own inheritance.” “I, YAHWEH, said: “ ‘What bliss would fill my heart to treat you like an honored son! What joy would fill my heart to give you a land of delights, the most glorious and beautiful inheritance among the nations.’ I longed for the day when you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from me. Instead, as a treacherous wife betrays her husband, so, you, nation of Israel, have betrayed me. I, YAHWEH, have spoken.” I hear the sound of voices echoing from the barren hills, the bitter weeping of the sons of Israel pleading for mercy because they lost their moral way and have forgotten YAHWEH their God. “Come back to me, you unfaithful ones! Let me heal your waywardness and restore your faithfulness.” “We’re here! We’re coming back to you, YAHWEH, because you are our God. We see it now. Our idolatrous worship on the high places and our noisy commotion on the mountains were nothing but delusions. Only you, YAHWEH our God, can save us. Ever since we were young, Baal, the god of shame, has robbed us of the abundance our ancestors labored for— their flocks and herds, their precious sons and daughters. We deserve to lie down in our shame and be covered by our disgrace. Ever since we were young, we and our ancestors have sinned against our God, YAHWEH. We failed to really listen to your voice, YAHWEH our God.”