9. Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
10. Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to Me with all her heart — only in pretense.”This is the Lord’s declaration.
11. The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12. Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say:Return, unfaithful Israel. This is the Lord’s declaration.I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in My love. This is the Lord’s declaration.I will not be angry forever.
13. Only acknowledge your guilt —you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You have scattered your favors to strangersunder every green tree and have not obeyed My voice.This is the Lord’s declaration.
14. “Return, you faithless children” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
15. I will give you shepherds who are loyal to Me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill.
16. When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days” — the Lord’s declaration — “no one will say any longer, ‘The ark of the Lord’s covenant.’ It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. It will never again be made.
17. At that time Jerusalem will be called, Yahweh’s Throne, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem. They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
18. In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.”
19. I thought: How I long to make you My sonsand give you a desirable land,the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.I thought: You will call Me, my Father,and never turn away from Me.
20. However, as a woman may betray her lover, so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel.This is the Lord’s declaration.
21. A sound is heard on the barren heights,the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,for they have perverted their way;they have forgotten the Lord their God.