5. You won't always be angry; you won't be cross with me for ever.’ Israel, that is what you said, but you did all the evil you could.”
6. When Josiah was king, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what Israel, that unfaithful woman, has done? She has turned away from me, and on every high hill and under every green tree she has acted like a prostitute.
7. I thought that after she had done all this, she would surely return to me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it all.
8. Judah also saw that I divorced Israel and sent her away because she had turned from me and had become a prostitute. But Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, was not afraid. She too became a prostitute
9. and was not at all ashamed. She defiled the land, and she committed adultery by worshipping stones and trees.
10. And after all this, Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, only pretended to return to me; she was not sincere. I, the Lord, have spoken.”
11. Then the Lord told me that, even though Israel had turned away from him, she had proved to be better than unfaithful Judah.
12. He told me to go and say to Israel, “Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you for ever.
13. Only admit that you are guilty and that you have rebelled against the Lord, your God. Confess that under every green tree you have given your love to foreign gods and that you have not obeyed my commands. I, the Lord, have spoken.
14. “Unfaithful people, come back; you belong to me. I will take one of you from each town and two from each clan, and I will bring you back to Mount Zion.