18. In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel. They will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.”
19. “Then I Myself said: ‘How gladly would I make you sons and give you a pleasant land— the most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ I thought you would call Me—Avi!— and would not turn from following Me.
20. Yet as a woman betrays her lover, so have you betrayed Me, O house of Israel.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
21. A voice is heard on the barren hills —the weeping and supplication of the children of Israel— because they perverted their way and forgot Adonai their God.
22. “Return, backsliding children! I will heal your backsliding.” “Yes, we will come to You for You are Adonai Eloheinu.
23. Surely help from the hills is a delusion— the commotion of the mountains! Surely in Adonai Eloheinu is the salvation of Israel.
24. But the shame has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth— their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25. Let’s lie down with our shame and let our disgrace cover us! For we have sinned against Adonai Eloheinu —both we and our fathers— from our youth even to this day. We have not paid attention to the voice of Adonai Eloheinu.”