3¹ "If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me? says the Lord. ² Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile harlotry. ³ Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have a harlot's brow, you refuse to be ashamed. ⁴ Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, thou art the friend of my youth-- ⁵ will he be angry for ever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

Israel and Judah Entreated to Repent

⁶ The Lord said to me in the days of King Josi'ah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot? ⁷ And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me'; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. ⁸ She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot. ⁹ Because harlotry was so light to her, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. ¹⁰ Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says the Lord." ¹¹ And the Lord said to me, "Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah.

¹² Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not be angry for ever. ¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, says the Lord. ¹⁴ Return, O faithless children, says the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. ¹⁵ "'And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶ And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the Lord." It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; it shall not be made again. ¹⁷ At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. ¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage. ¹⁹ "'I thought how I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beauteous of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.

²⁰ Surely, as a faithless wife leaves her husband, so have you been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the Lord.'" ²¹ A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons, 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 thee; for thou art the Lord our God. ²³ Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. ²⁴ "But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor 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."

4¹ "If you return, O Israel, says the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your abominations from my presence, and do not waver, ² and if you swear, 'As the Lord lives,' in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory."

³ For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. ⁴ Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings."

Judah Threatened with Invasion

⁵ Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say, "Blow the trumpet through the land; cry aloud and say, 'Assemble, and let us go into the fortified cities!' ⁶ Raise a standard toward Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction. ⁷ A lion has gone up from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out; he has gone forth from his place to make your land a waste; your cities will be ruins without inhabitant. ⁸ For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us." ⁹ "In that day, says the Lord, courage shall fail both king and princes; the priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded." ¹⁰ Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, surely thou hast utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, 'It shall be well with you'; whereas the sword has reached their very life." ¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹² a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who speak in judgment upon them." ¹³ Behold, he comes up like clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles--woe to us, for we are ruined! ¹⁴ O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you? ¹⁵ For a voice declares from Dan and proclaims evil from Mount E'phraim. ¹⁶ Warn the nations that he is coming; announce to Jerusalem, "Besiegers come from a distant land; they shout against the cities of Judah. ¹⁷ Like keepers of a field are they against her round about, because she has rebelled against me, says the Lord. ¹⁸ Your ways and your doings have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter; it has reached your very heart."

¹⁹ My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly; I cannot keep silent; for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. ²⁰ Disaster follows hard on disaster, the whole land is laid waste. Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my curtains in a moment. ²¹ How long must I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet? ²² "For my people are foolish, they know me not; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but how to do good they know not." ²³ I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. ²⁴ I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. ²⁵ I looked, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. ²⁶ I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. ²⁷ For thus says the Lord, "The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. ²⁸ For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black; for I have spoken, I have purposed; I have not relented nor will I turn back." ²⁹ At the noise of horseman and archer every city takes to flight; they enter thickets; they climb among rocks; all the cities are forsaken, and no man dwells in them. ³⁰ And you, O desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet, that you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, that you enlarge your eyes with paint? In vain you beautify yourself. Your lovers despise you; they seek your life. ³¹ For I heard a cry as of a woman in travail, anguish as of one bringing forth her first child, the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands, "Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers."

The Sins of Jerusalem and Judah

5¹ Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks truth; that I may pardon her. ² Though they say, "As the Lord lives," yet they swear falsely. ³ O Lord, do not thy eyes look for truth? Thou hast smitten them, but they felt no anguish; thou hast consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent. ⁴ Then I said, "These are only the poor, they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. ⁵ I will go to the great, and will speak to them; for they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God." But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds. ⁶ Therefore a lion from the forest shall slay them, a wolf from the desert shall destroy them. A leopard is watching against their cities, every one who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces; because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. ⁷ "How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me, and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of harlots. ⁸ They were well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. ⁹ Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord; and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

¹⁰ "Go up through her vine-rows and destroy, but make not a full end; strip away her branches, for they are not the Lord's. ¹¹ For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly faithless to me, says the Lord. ¹² They have spoken falsely of the Lord, and have said, 'He will do nothing; no evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. ¹³ The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them!'" ¹⁴ Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: "Because they have spoken this word, behold, I am making my words in your mouth a fire, and this people wood, and the fire shall devour them. ¹⁵ Behold, I am bringing upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, says the Lord. It is an enduring nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know, nor can you understand what they say. ¹⁶ Their quiver is like an open tomb, they are all mighty men. ¹⁷ They shall eat up your harvest and your food; they shall eat up your sons and your daughters; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; your fortified cities in which you trust they shall destroy with the sword." ¹⁸ "But even in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. ¹⁹ And when your people say, 'Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' you shall say to them, 'As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'"

²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob, proclaim it in Judah: ²¹ "Hear this, O foolish and senseless people, who have eyes, but see not, who have ears, but hear not. ²² Do you not fear me? says the Lord; Do you not tremble before me? I placed the sand as the bound for the sea, a perpetual barrier which it cannot pass; though the waves toss, they cannot prevail, though they roar, they cannot pass over it. ²³ But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; they have turned aside and gone away. ²⁴ They do not say in their hearts, 'Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest.'

²⁵ Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you. ²⁶ For wicked men are found among my people; they lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. ²⁷ Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery; therefore they have become great and rich, ²⁸ they have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of wickedness; they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper, and they do not defend the rights of the needy. ²⁹ Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord, and shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?" ³⁰ An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land: ³¹ the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

Prediction of Apostasy

4¹ Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, ² through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared, ³ who forbid marriage and enjoin abstinence from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. ⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving; ⁵ for then it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

A Good Minister of Jesus Christ

⁶ If you put these instructions before the brethren, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and of the good doctrine which you have followed. ⁷ Have nothing to do with godless and silly myths. Train yourself in godliness; ⁸ for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. ⁹ The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. ¹⁰ For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. ¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. ¹³ Till I come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utterance when the council of elders laid their hands upon you. ¹⁵ Practice these duties, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. ¹⁶ Take heed to yourself and to your teaching; hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.