Jeremiah:3

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* They say , If a man puts away his wife , and she goes from him and will be for another man , will he return to her again ? Would not that land be greatly defiled ? But you play the harlot with many lovers ; yet would you come back to Me , says Jehovah .? * Lift up your eyes on the bare heights and see . Where have you not been lain with ? By the highways you have sat for them , like an Arab in the desert . And you have defiled the land with your fornications and with your evil . * And the showers are withheld , and there has been no latter rain . And the forehead of a woman , a harlot was to you ; you refused to be ashamed . * Have you not just now called to Me , saying , My father , You are the friend of my youth ? * Will He keep His anger forever ? Or will He guard it to the end ? Behold , you have spoken , and you have done all the evil things that you could . * Jehovah also said to me in the days of Josiah the king , Have you seen what the apostate Israel has done ? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree , and has fornicated there . * And after she had done all these , I said , She will return to Me ; but she did not return . And her treacherous sister Judah saw it . * And I watched . When for all the causes for which the apostate Israel committed adultery , I put her away and gave her a bill of her divorce to her . Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear , but she also went and fornicated . * And it happened , from the wantonness of her harlotry she defiled the land , and committed adultery with stones and with pieces of wood . * And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me with her whole heart , but with falsehood , says Jehovah . * And Jehovah said to me , The apostate Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah . * Go and cry these words toward the north , and say , Return , O apostate Israel , says Jehovah . I will not cause My face to fall on you , for I am merciful , says Jehovah ; I will not keep anger forever . * Only acknowledge your iniquity , that you have rebelled against Jehovah your God and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree , and you have not obeyed My voice , says Jehovah . * Return , O apostate sons , declares Jehovah ; for I am Lord over you . And I will take you , one from a city , and two from a family , and I will bring you to Zion . * And I will give you shepherds according to My heart , who will feed you with knowledge and understanding . * And it will be , when you multiply and increase in the land in those days , says Jehovah , they will no longer say , The ark of the covenant of Jehovah ! Nor shall it come to the heart , nor shall they remember it , nor shall they miss it , nor shall it be made any more . * At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah . And all nations shall be gathered to it , to the name of Jehovah , to Jerusalem . And they shall not walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart . * In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel , 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 gladly would I put you among the sons , and give you a pleasant land , a beautiful inheritance among the multitudes of nations ! And I said , You shall call Me , My Father ; and you shall not turn away from Me . * Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her lover , so you have dealt treacherously with Me , O house of Israel , declares Jehovah . * A voice was heard weeping on the bare heights , pleadings of the sons of Israel ; for they have perverted their way ; they have forgotten Jehovah their God . * Return , O apostate sons ; I will heal your apostasies . Behold , we come to You , for You are Jehovah our God . * Truly , for delusion comes from the hills , tumult on the mountains . Truly , in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel . * For the shameful thing has eaten up the labor of our fathers from our youth , their flocks and their herds , their sons and their daughters . * We lie down in our shame , and our confusion covers us . For we have sinned against Jehovah our God , we and our fathers , from our youth even to this day . And we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God .

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