2. “Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute?You have sat by the road waiting for lovers,like an Arab in the desert.You made the land unclean,because you did evil and were like a prostitute.
3. So the rain has not come,and there have not been any spring rains.But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute.You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.
4. Now you are calling to me,‘My father, you have been my friend since I was young.
5. Will you always be angry at me?Will your anger last forever?’Judah, you said this,but you did as much evil as you could!”
6. When King Josiah was ruling Judah, the Lord said to me, “Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree.
7. I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she does this evil,’ but she didn’t come back. And Israel’s wicked sister Judah saw what she did.
8. Judah saw that I divorced unfaithful Israel because of her adultery, but that didn’t make Israel’s wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute!
9. And she didn’t care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country unclean and was guilty of adultery, because she worshiped idols made of stone and wood.
10. Israel’s wicked sister didn’t even come back to me with her whole heart, but only pretended,” says the Lord.
11. The Lord said to me, “Unfaithful Israel had a better excuse than wicked Judah.
12. Go and speak this message toward the north:‘Come back, unfaithful people of Israel,’ says the Lord.‘I will stop being angry at you,because I am full of mercy,’ says the Lord.‘I will not be angry with you forever.
13. All you have to do is admit your sin—that you turned against the Lord your Godand worshiped gods under every green treeand didn’t obey me,’ ” says the Lord.
14. “Come back to me, you unfaithful children,” says the Lord, “because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two from every family group, and I will bring you to Jerusalem.