13. Only acknowledge your wrongdoing:how you have rebelled against the Lord your God,and given yourself to strangersunder every lush treeand haven’t obeyed me,declares the Lord.
14. Return, rebellious children,declares the Lord, for I’m your husband.I’ll gather you—one from a city and two from a tribe—and bring you back to Zion.
15. I will appoint shepherds with whom I’m pleased, and they will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
16. And in those days, when your numbers have greatly increased in the land, declares the Lord, people will no longer talk about the Lord’s covenant chest; they won’t recall or remember it; they won’t even miss it or try to build another one.
17. At that time, they will call Jerusalem the Lord’s throne, and all nations will gather there to honor the Lord’s name. No longer will they follow their own willful and evil hearts.
18. In those days the people of Judah and Israel will leave the north together for the land that I gave their ancestors as an inheritance.
19. I thought to myself, How wonderful it would beto treat you like childrenand give you a beautiful land,an inheritance unrivaled among the nations.And I thought, You will call me father,and you won’t turn away from me.
20. But as a woman betrays her lover,so you, people of Israel, have betrayed me,declares the Lord.
21. A voice is heard on the well-traveled paths;it’s the crying and pleading of the people of Israel,who have lost their wayand forgotten the Lord their God.
22. Return, rebellious children,and I will heal your rebellion."Here we are; we come to you,for you are the Lord our God.
23. Surely what happens on the hills is a waste,as is the uproar on the mountains.Only in the Lord our Godis the salvation of Israel.
24. From our youth, shame has devouredthe fruit of our parents’ labor—their flocks and herds,as well as their sons and daughters.
25. Let’s lie down in our shame.Let our dishonor cover us,for we have sinned against the Lord our God,both we and our ancestors,from our youth to this very day.We have disobeyed the voice of the Lord our God."