Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”
And the Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, “‘Return, faithless Israel,
Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice,
Return, O faithless children,
And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares 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.
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.
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.
Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
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.
“Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
“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.
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.”
“If you return, O Israel,
and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.”
For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, “Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, ‘Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!’
Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north, and great destruction.
For this put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.”
“In that day, declares the Lord, courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.”
Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse,
Behold, he comes up like clouds; his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles— woe to us, for we are ruined!
Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, “Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah.
Like keepers of a field are they against her all around, because she has rebelled against me,
My 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.
Crash follows hard on crash; the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are laid waste, my curtains in a moment.
How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?
I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.
I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.
I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger.
For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
“For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark; for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
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 no man dwells in them.
For I heard a 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, stretching out her hands, “Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.
Though they say, “As the Lord lives,” yet they swear falsely.
Then I said, “These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.
I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.” But they all alike had broken the yoke; they had burst the bonds.
Therefore a lion from the forest shall strike them down; a wolf from the desert shall devastate them. A leopard is watching their cities; everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great.
“How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.
Shall I not punish them for these things?
“Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord's.
For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me,
They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, ‘He will do nothing; no disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.
The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!’”
Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall consume them.
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