1  ^g“If¹ a man divorces his wife

and she goes from him

and becomes another man’s wife,

will he return to her?

^hWould not that land be greatly polluted?

ⁱYou have played the whore with many lovers;

and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.

2  Lift up your eyes to ^jthe bare heights, and see!

Where have you not been ravished?

^kBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers

like an Arab in the wilderness.

^hYou have polluted the land

with your vile whoredom.

3  ^lTherefore the showers have been withheld,

and the spring rain has not come;

yet you have ^mthe forehead of a whore;

you refuse to be ashamed.

4  Have you not just now ⁿcalled to me,

‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—

5  ^owill he be angry forever,

will he be indignant to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken,

but you have done all the evil that you could.”

^z“‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.

I will not look on you in anger,

for ^aI am merciful,

declares the Lord;

^bI will not be angry forever.

13  ^cOnly acknowledge your guilt,

that you rebelled against the Lord your God

and scattered your favors among foreigners under ^devery green tree,

and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

14  ^eReturn, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;

^ffor I am your master;

I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,

and I will bring you to Zion.

19  “‘I said,

How I would set you among my sons,

and give you a pleasant land,

a heritage most beautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would ⁿcall me, My Father,

and would not turn from following me.

20  ^oSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,

so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’”

21  A voice on the ^pbare heights is heard,

^qthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons

because they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God.

22  ^r“Return, O faithless sons;

^sI will heal your faithlessness.”

“Behold, we come to you,

for you are the Lord our God.

23  Truly ^tthe hills are a delusion,

the orgies² on the mountains.

^uTruly in the Lord our God

is the salvation of Israel.

1  “If you return, O Israel,

declares the Lord,

^xto me you should return.

If you remove your detestable things from my presence,

^yand do not waver,

2  ^zand if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then ^anations shall bless themselves in him,

^band in him shall they glory.”

^c“Break up your fallow ground,

and ^dsow not among thorns.

4  ^eCircumcise yourselves to the Lord;

remove the foreskin of your hearts,

O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;

^flest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

^gbecause of the evil of your deeds.”

^h“Blow the trumpet through the land;

cry aloud and say,

ⁱ‘Assemble, and let us go

into the fortified cities!’

6  ^jRaise a standard toward Zion,

flee for safety, stay not,

for I bring disaster from ^kthe north,

^land great destruction.

7  ^mA lion has gone up from his thicket,

a destroyer of nations has set out;

he has gone out from his place

to make your land a waste;

your cities will be ruins

ⁿwithout inhabitant.

8  For this ^oput on sackcloth,

lament and wail,

for ^pthe fierce anger of the Lord

has not turned back from us.”

13  Behold, he comes up like clouds;

^uhis chariots like the whirlwind;

his horses are ^vswifter than eagles—

woe to us, ^wfor we are ruined!

14  O Jerusalem, ^xwash your heart from evil,

that you may be saved.

How long shall your wicked thoughts

lodge within you?

15  For a voice ^ydeclares from Dan

and proclaims trouble from ^zMount Ephraim.

16  Warn the nations that he is coming;

announce to Jerusalem,

“Besiegers come ^afrom a distant land;

they shout against the cities of Judah.

17  Like keepers of a field ^bare they against her all around,

because she has rebelled against me,

declares the Lord.

18  Your ways and your deeds

have brought this upon you.

This is your doom, and ^cit is bitter;

it has reached your very heart.”

19  ^dMy anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh the walls of my heart!

My heart is beating wildly;

I cannot keep silent,

for I hear the sound of the trumpet,

the alarm of war.

20  ^eCrash follows hard on crash;

the whole land is laid waste.

^fSuddenly my tents are laid waste,

my curtains in a moment.

21  How long must I see the standard

and hear the sound of the trumpet?

22  “For ^gmy people are foolish;

they know me not;

they are stupid children;

they have no understanding.

^hThey are ‘wise’—in doing evil!

But how to do good they know not.”

23  I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ⁱwithout form and void;

^jand to the heavens, and they had no light.

24  I looked on ^kthe mountains, and behold, they were quaking,

and all the hills moved to and fro.

25  ^lI looked, and behold, there was no man,

and all the birds of the air had fled.

26  I looked, and behold, the ^mfruitful land was a desert,

and all its cities were laid in ruins

before the Lord, before ⁿhis fierce anger.

28  ^p“For this the earth shall mourn,

^qand the heavens above be dark;

for I have spoken; I have purposed;

^rI have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

29  At the noise of horseman and archer

every city takes to flight;

they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;

all the cities are forsaken,

and ^sno man dwells in them.

30  And you, O desolate one,

what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,

^tthat you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,

^uthat you enlarge your eyes with paint?

In vain you beautify yourself.

^vYour lovers despise you;

they seek your life.

31  For I heard ^wa cry as of a woman in labor,

anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,

the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

^xstretching out her hands,

“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”