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Jeremiah 3 (CEV)

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¹ The LORD said to the people of Israel: If a divorced woman marries, can her first husband ever marry her again? No, because this would pollute the land. But you have more gods than a prostitute has lovers. Why should I take you back? ² Just try to find one hilltop where you haven't gone to worship other gods by having sex. You sat beside the road like a robber in ambush, except you offered yourself to every passerby. Your sins of unfaithfulness have polluted the land. ³ So I, the LORD, refused to let the spring rains fall. But just like a prostitute, you still have no shame for what you have done. ⁴ You call me your father or your long-lost friend; ⁵ you beg me to stop being angry, but you won't stop sinning. ⁶ When Josiah was king, the LORD said: Jeremiah, the kingdom of Israel was like an unfaithful wife who became a prostitute on the hilltops and in the shade of large trees. ⁷ I knew that the kingdom of Israel had been unfaithful and committed many sins, yet I still hoped she might come back to me. But she didn't, so I divorced her and sent her away. Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn't worried i ⁸ (SEE 3:7) ⁹ The kingdom of Judah wasn't sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn't care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshiping idols of stone and wood. ¹⁰ And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. ¹¹ Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend. ¹² Jeremiah, shout toward the north: Israel, I am your LORD-- come back to me! You were unfaithful and made me furious, but I am merciful, and so I will forgive you. ¹³ Just admit that you rebelled and worshiped foreign gods under large trees everywhere. ¹⁴ You are unfaithful children, but you belong to me. Come home! I'll take one or two of you from each town and clan and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ Then I'll appoint wise rulers who will obey me, and they will care for you like shepherds. ¹⁶ You will increase in numbers, and there will be no need to remember the sacred chest or to make a new one. ¹⁷ The whole city of Jerusalem will be my throne. All nations will come here to worship me, and they will no longer follow their stubborn, evil hearts. ¹⁸ Then, in countries to the north, you people of Judah and Israel will be reunited, and you will return to the land I gave your ancestors. ¹⁹ I have always wanted to treat you as my children and give you the best land, the most beautiful on earth. I wanted you to call me "Father" and not turn from me. ²⁰ But instead, you are like a wife who broke her wedding vows. You have been unfaithful to me. I, the LORD, have spoken. ²¹ Listen to the noise on the hilltops! It's the people of Israel, weeping and begging me to answer their prayers. They forgot about me and chose the wrong path. ²² I will tell them, "Come back, and I will cure you of your unfaithfulness." They will answer, "We will come back, because you are the LORD our God. ²³ On hilltops, we worshiped idols and made loud noises, but it was all for nothing-- only you can save us. ²⁴ Since the days of our ancestors when our nation was young, that shameful god Baal has taken our crops and livestock, our sons and daughters. ²⁵ We have rebelled against you just like our ancestors, and we are ashamed of our sins."