The LORD's Judgment on the People

161 The word of the Lord also came to me saying , 2 "You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place ." 3 For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters born in this place , and concerning their mothers who bear them, and their fathers who beget them in this land : 4 "They will die of deadly diseases , they will not be lamented or buried ; they will be as dung on the surface of the ground and come to an end by sword and famine , and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth ." 5 For thus says the Lord , "Do not enter a house of mourning , or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people ," declares the Lord , "My lovingkindness and compassion . 6 "Both great men and small will die in this land ; they will not be buried , they will not be lamented , nor will anyone gash himself or shave his head for them. 7 "Men will not break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead , nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone's father or mother . 8 "Moreover you shall not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink ." 9 For thus says the Lord of hosts , the God of Israel : "Behold , I am going to eliminate from this place , before your eyes and in your time , the voice of rejoicing and the voice of gladness , the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride .

10 "Now when you tell this people all these words , they will say to you, ' For what reason e has the Lord declared all this great calamity against us? And what is our iniquity , or what is our sin which we have committed against the Lord our God ?' 11 "Then you are to say to them, 'It is because e your forefathers have forsaken Me,' declares the Lord , 'and have followed e other gods and served them and bowed down to them; but Me they have forsaken and have not kept My law . 12 'You too have done evil , even more than your forefathers ; for behold , you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart , without listening to Me. 13 'So I will hurl you out of this land into the land which you have not known , neither you nor your fathers ; and there you will serve other gods day and night , for I will grant you no favor .'

14 " Therefore behold , days are coming ," declares the Lord , "when it will no longer be said , 'As the Lord lives , who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt ,' 15 but, 'As the Lord lives , who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where e He had banished them.' For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers . 16 "Behold , I am going to send for many fishermen ," declares the Lord , "and they will fish for them; and afterwards e I will send for many hunters , and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks . 17 " For My eyes are on all their ways ; they are not hidden from My face , nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes . 18 "I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin , because they have polluted My land ; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations ." 19 O Lord , my strength and my stronghold , And my refuge in the day of distress , To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say , "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood , Futility and things of no profit ." 20 Can man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods ! 21 "Therefore behold , I am going to make them know - This time I will make them know My power and My might ; And they shall know that My name is the Lord ."

31 God says , " If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man , Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted ? But you are a harlot with many lovers ; Yet you turn to Me," declares the Lord . 2 "Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see ; Where have you not been violated ? By the roads you have sat for them Like an Arab in the desert , And you have polluted a land With your harlotry and with your wickedness . 3 "Therefore the showers have been withheld , And there has been no spring rain . Yet you had a harlot's e forehead ; You refused to be ashamed . 4 "Have you not just now called to Me, ' My Father , You are the friend of my youth ? 5 ' Will He be angry forever ? Will He be indignant to the end ?' Behold , you have spoken And have done evil things , And you have had your way ."

Israel and Judah Entreated to Repent

6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king , "Have you seen what faithless Israel did ? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree , and she was a harlot there . 7 " I thought , 'After she has done all these things she will return to Me'; but she did not return , and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 "And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel , I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce , yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear ; but she went and was a harlot also . 9 "Because of the lightness of her harlotry , she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees . 10 "Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart , but rather e in deception ," declares the Lord . 11 And the Lord said to me, " Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah .

12 "Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say , ' Return , faithless Israel ,' declares the Lord ; ' I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious ,' declares the Lord ; 'I will not be angry 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 ,' declares the Lord . 14 'Return , O faithless sons ,' declares the Lord ; 'For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family , And I will bring you to Zion .' 15 "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart , who will feed you on knowledge and understanding . 16 "It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land ," declares the Lord , "they will no longer say , 'The ark of the covenant of the Lord .' And it will not come to mind , nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again . 17 "At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the Lord ,' and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem , for the name of the Lord ; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart . 18 " In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel , and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance . 19 "Then I said , 'How I would set you among My sons And give you a pleasant land , The most beautiful inheritance of the nations !' And I said , 'You shall call Me, My Father , And not turn away from following Me.'

20 "Surely , as a woman treacherously departs from her lover , So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel ," declares the Lord . 21 A voice is heard on the bare heights , The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel ; Because they have perverted their way , They have forgotten the Lord their God . 22 "Return , O faithless sons , I will heal your faithlessness ." "Behold , we come to You; For You are the Lord our God . 23 "Surely , the hills are a deception , A tumult on the mountains . Surely in the Lord our God Is the salvation of Israel . 24 "But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth , their flocks and their herds , their sons and their daughters . 25 "Let us lie down in our shame , and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God , we and our fathers , from our youth even to this day . And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God ."