Jeremiah 3

NEW JERUSALEM	KING JAMES BIBLE
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 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
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 thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms 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 have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
4 From now on, do not cry out at me, "My father! My beloved ever since I was young!	4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
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 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
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 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
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 I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
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 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
9 And with her shameless whoring, she pol uted the country; she committed adultery with stones andpieces of wood.	9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery 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 yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
11 And Yahweh said to me, 'Disloyal Israel is upright, compared with faithless Judah.	11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
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 say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger 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 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed 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 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
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 mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
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 it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased 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 to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; 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 they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil 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 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 unto 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 pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
20 But like a woman betraying her lover, House of Israel, you have betrayed me,' Yahweh declares.	20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, 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 upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and 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, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto 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 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of 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 For shame hath devoured the labour 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 lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.