Jeremiah, 3

1. 'If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes someone else's, has he the right to go back to her? Has not that piece of land been totally polluted? And you, having played the whore with many lovers, you claim the right to come back to me! Yahweh demands.

1. "If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me? says the LORD.

2. 'Lift your eyes to the bare heights and look! Where have you not offered your sex! You waited by the roadside for them like an Arab in the desert. You have polluted the country with your prostitution and your vices:

2. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile harlotry.

3. this is why the showers have been withheld, the late rains have not come. 'But you maintained a prostitute's bold front, with no trace of a blush.

3. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have a harlot's brow, you refuse to be ashamed.

4. From now on, do not cry out at me, "My father! My beloved ever since I was young!

4. Have you not just now called to me, `My father, thou art the friend of my youth --

5. Will he keep up his anger for ever, maintain his wrath to the end?" You say this but still go on sinning, being so obstinate.'

5. will he be angry for ever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

6. In the days of King Josiah, Yahweh said to me, 'Have you seen what disloyal Israel has done? How she has made her way up every high hill and to every green tree, and played the whore there?

6. The LORD said to me in the days of King Josi'ah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot?

7. I thought, "After doing all this she will come back to me." But she did not come back. Her faithless sister Judah saw this.

7. And I thought, `After she has done all this she will return to me'; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it.

8. She also saw that I had repudiated disloyal Israel for all her adulteries and given her her divorce papers. Her faithless sister Judah, however, was not afraid: she too went and played the whore.

8. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot.

9. And with her shameless whoring, she polluted the country; she committed adultery with stones and pieces of wood.

9. Because harlotry was so light to her, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.

10. Worse than all this: Judah, her faithless sister, has come back to me not in sincerity, but only in pretence, Yahweh declares.'

10. Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the LORD."

11. And Yahweh said to me, 'Disloyal Israel is upright, compared with faithless Judah.

11. And the LORD said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah.

12. So go and shout words towards the north, and say: "Come back, disloyal Israel, Yahweh declares, I shall frown on you no more, since I am merciful, Yahweh declares. I shall not keep my anger for ever.

12. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, `Return, faithless Israel, says the LORD. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the LORD; I will not be angry for ever.

13. Only acknowledge your guilt: how you have rebelled against Yahweh your God, how you have prostituted yourself with the Strangers under every green tree and have not listened to my voice, Yahweh declares.

13. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.

14. "Come back, disloyal children, Yahweh declares, for I alone am your Master, and I will take you, one from a town, two from a family, and bring you to Zion.

14. Return, O faithless children, says the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

15. I shall give you shepherds after my own heart, who will pasture you wisely and discreetly.

15. "`And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

16. Then, when you have increased and grown numerous in the country, Yahweh declares, no one will ever again say: The ark of the covenant of Yahweh! It will not enter their minds, they will not remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.

16. And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the LORD." It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; it shall not be made again.

17. When that time comes, Jerusalem will be called: The Throne of Yahweh, and all the nations will converge on her, on Yahweh's name, on Jerusalem, and will no longer follow their own stubborn and wicked inclinations.

17. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

18. "When those days come, the House of Judah will join the House of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the country I gave your ancestors as their heritage."

18. In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19. 'And I was thinking: How am I to rank you as my children? I shall give you a country of delights, the fairest heritage of all the nations! I thought: You will call me Father and will never cease to follow me.

19. "`I thought how I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beauteous of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.

20. But like a woman betraying her lover, House of Israel, you have betrayed me,' Yahweh declares.

20. Surely, as a faithless wife leaves her husband, so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.'"

21. A noise is heard on the bare heights: the weeping and entreaty of the Israelites, for they have gone wildly astray, have forgotten Yahweh their God.

21. A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.

22. 'Come back, disloyal sons, I want to cure your disloyalty.' 'We are here, we are coming to you, for you are Yahweh our God.

22. "Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

23. The hills are a delusion after all, so is the tumult of the mountains. Yahweh our God is, after all, the saving of Israel.

23. Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

24. Shame has devoured what our ancestors worked for ever since we were young, their flocks and herds, their sons and their daughters.

24. "But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

25. Let us lie down in our shame, let our confusion cover us, for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our ancestors, from our youth until today, and have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God.'

25. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."