17. In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the lord.’ All nations will come there to honor the lord. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires.
18. In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever.
19. “I thought to myself,‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land—the finest possession in the world.I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’and I wanted you never to turn from me.
20. But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel!You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.I, the lord, have spoken.”
21. Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains,the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people.For they have chosen crooked pathsand have forgotten the lord their God.
22. “My wayward children,” says the lord,“come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”“Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply,“for you are the lord our God.
23. Our worship of idols on the hillsand our religious orgies on the mountainsare a delusion.Only in the lord our Godwill Israel ever find salvation.
24. From childhood we have watchedas everything our ancestors worked for—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—was squandered on a delusion.
25. Let us now lie down in shameand cover ourselves with dishonor,for we and our ancestors have sinnedagainst the lord our God.From our childhood to this daywe have never obeyed him.”