5. Will he reserve his anger forever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done all the evil things that you could.
6. The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king,
7. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn you unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8. And I saw, when for all the causes for which 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 it came to pass through the lightness of her harlotry, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with trees.
10. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned unto me with her whole heart, but in pretense,
11. And the LORD said unto me,
12. Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the LORD; and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, and I will not keep anger forever.
13. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,
14. Turn, O backsliding children,
15. And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16. And it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,
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 hearts.