1They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord .[ † ]Deuteronomy 24:1-4Jeremiah 2:7Jeremiah 2:20Ezekiel 16:26Jeremiah 4:1Zechariah 1:3 2Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.[ † ]Deuteronomy 12:2Jeremiah 2:20Jeremiah 3:21Jeremiah 7:29Proverbs 23:28Jeremiah 2:7 3Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.[ † ]Leviticus 26:19Jeremiah 14:3-6Zephaniah 3:5 4Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?[ † ]Psalms 71:17Proverbs 2:17Jeremiah 2:2Hosea 2:15
5Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.[ † ]Psalms 103:9Isaiah 57:16Jeremiah 3:12
6The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.[ † ]Jeremiah 7:24Jeremiah 2:20 7And I said after she had done all these things , Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it .[ † ]2 Kings 17:13Jeremiah 3:11Ezekiel 16:47-48 8And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.[ † ]Ezekiel 23:92 Kings 17:6Isaiah 50:1Ezekiel 23:11 9And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.[ † ]Jeremiah 2:7Isaiah 57:6Jeremiah 2:27 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord .[ † ]Jeremiah 12:2Hosea 7:14
11And the Lord said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.[ † ]Ezekiel 16:51-52 12Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord ; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord , and I will not keep anger for ever.[ † ]2 Kings 17:6Psalms 86:15Jeremiah 12:15Jeremiah 31:20Jeremiah 33:26 13Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the Lord .[ † ]Leviticus 26:40Deuteronomy 30:1-2Proverbs 28:131 John 1:9Ezekiel 16:15Jeremiah 2:25Deuteronomy 12:2
14Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord ; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:[ † ]Jeremiah 31:32Hosea 2:19-20Jeremiah 31:6Romans 11:5 15and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.[ † ]Jeremiah 23:4Jeremiah 31:10Ezekiel 34:23Ephesians 4:11Acts 20:28 16And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord , they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord : neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it ; neither shall that be done any more.[ † ]Isaiah 49:19Jeremiah 23:3Isaiah 65:17 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord ; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord , to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.[ † ]Isaiah 60:9Deuteronomy 29:19Jeremiah 7:24 18In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.[ † ]Isaiah 11:13Jeremiah 50:4Ezekiel 37:16-22Hosea 1:11Jeremiah 31:8Amos 9:15
19But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.[ † ]Psalms 106:24Isaiah 63:16Jeremiah 3:4 20Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord .[ † ]Isaiah 48:8
21A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God.[ † ]Isaiah 15:2
22Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.[ † ]Jeremiah 30:17Jeremiah 33:6Hosea 6:1Hosea 14:4 23Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.[ † ]Psalms 121:1-2Psalms 3:8Proverbs 21:31Jeremiah 17:14Jeremiah 31:7Jonah 2:9 24For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.[ † ]Jeremiah 11:13Jeremiah 14:20Hosea 9:10 25We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.[ † ]Ezra 9:6-7Jeremiah 22:21