Jeremiah 3

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 'If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes someone else's, has he the right to go backto her? Has not that piece of land been total y pol uted? And you, having played the whore with many lovers, youclaim the right to come back to me! Yahweh demands.	1 It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? shall not that woman be polluted, and defiled? but thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee.
2 'Lift your eyes to the bare heights and look! Where have you not offered your sex! You waited by theroadside for them like an Arab in the desert. You have polluted the country with your prostitution and your vices:	2 Lift up thy eyes on high: and see where thou hast not prostuted thyself: Thou didst sit in the ways, waiting for them as a robber in the wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications, and with thy wickedness.
3 this is why the showers have been withheld, the late rains have not come. 'But you maintained aprostitute's bold front, with no trace of a blush.	3 Therefore the showers were withholden, and there was no lateward rain: thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou wouldst not blush.
4 From now on, do not cry out at me, "My father! My beloved ever since I was young!	4 Therefore at least at this time call to me: Thou art my father, the guide of my virginity:
5 Wil he keep up his anger for ever, maintain his wrath to the end?" You say this but stil go on sinning,being so obstinate.'	5 Wilt thou be angry for ever, or wilt thou continue until the end? Behold, thou hast spoken, and hast done evil things, and hast been able.
6 In the days of King Josiah, Yahweh said to me, 'Have you seen what disloyal Israel has done? How shehas made her way up every high hil and to every green tree, and played the whore there?	6 And the Lord said to me in the days of king Josias: Hast thou seen what rebellious Israel hast done? she hath gone out of herself upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and hath played the harlot there.
7 I thought, "After doing al this she wil come back to me." But she did not come back. Her faithless sister Judah saw this.	7 And when she had done all these things, I said: Return to me, and she did not return. And her treacherous sister Juda saw,
8 She also saw that I had repudiated disloyal Israel for al her adulteries and given her her divorce papers.Her faithless sister Judah, however, was not afraid: she too went and played the whore.	8 That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had put her away, and had given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous sister Juda was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself.
9 And with her shameless whoring, she pol uted the country; she committed adultery with stones andpieces of wood.	9 And by the facility of her fornication she defiled the land, and played the harlot with stones and with stocks.
10 Worse than all this: Judah, her faithless sister, has come back to me not in sincerity, but only inpretence, Yahweh declares.'	10 And after all this, her treacherous sister Juda hath not returned to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, saith the Lord.
11 And Yahweh said to me, 'Disloyal Israel is upright, compared with faithless Judah.	11 And the Lord said to me: The rebellious Israel hath justified her soul, in comparison of the treacherous Juda.
12 So go and shout words towards the north, and say: "Come back, disloyal Israel, Yahweh declares, Ishall frown on you no more, since I am merciful, Yahweh declares. I shal not keep my anger for ever.	12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and thou shalt say: Return, O rebellious Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not turn away my face from you: for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I will not be angry for ever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt: how you have rebelled against Yahweh your God, how you haveprostituted yourself with the Strangers under every green tree and have not listened to my voice, Yahwehdeclares.	13 But yet acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God: and thou hast scattered thy ways to strangers under every green tree, and hast not heard my voice, saith the Lord.
14 "Come back, disloyal children, Yahweh declares, for I alone am your Master, and I wil take you, onefrom a town, two from a family, and bring you to Zion.	14 Return, O ye revolting children, saith the Lord: for I am your husband: and I will take you, one of a city, and two of a kindred, and will bring you into Sion.
15 I shal give you shepherds after my own heart, who wil pasture you wisely and discreetly.	15 And I will give you pastors according to my own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine.
16 Then, when you have increased and grown numerous in the country, Yahweh declares, no one wilever again say: The ark of the covenant of Yahweh! It will not enter their minds, they wil not remember it or missit, nor wil another one be made.	16 And when you shall be multiplied, and increase in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more: The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come upon the heart, neither shall they remember it, neither shall it be visited, neither shall that be done any more.
17 When that time comes, Jerusalem will be cal ed: The Throne of Yahweh, and al the nations willconverge on her, on Yahweh's name, on Jerusalem, and will no longer fol ow their own stubborn and wickedinclinations.	17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the thrown of the Lord: and all the nations shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord to Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the perversity of their most wicked heart.
18 "When those days come, the House of Judah wil join the House of Israel; together they will come fromthe land of the north to the country I gave your ancestors as their heritage."	18 In those days the house of Juda shall go to the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers.
19 'And I was thinking: How am I to rank you as my children? I shal give you a country of delights, thefairest heritage of al the nations! I thought: You wil cal me Father and wil never cease to fol ow me.	19 But I said: How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a lovely land, the goodly inheritance of the armies of the Gentiles? And I said: Thou shalt call me father and shalt cease to walk after me.
20 But like a woman betraying her lover, House of Israel, you have betrayed me,' Yahweh declares.	20 But as a woman that despiseth her lover, so hath the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord.
21 A noise is heard on the bare heights: the weeping and entreaty of the Israelites, for they have gonewildly astray, have forgotten Yahweh their God.	21 A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, 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 youare Yahweh our God.	22 Return, you rebellious children, and I will heal your rebellions. Behold we come to thee: for thou art the Lord our God.
23 The hil s are a delusion after al , so is the tumult of the mountains. Yahweh our God is, after al , thesaving of Israel.	23 In very deed the hills were liars. and the multitude of 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 Confusion hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, 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 We shall sleep in our confusion, and our shame shall cover us, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth even to this day, and we have not hearkened to the voice of theLord our God.