Jeremiah 3 - Prayer Tents

3“If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the Lord.H559H376H7971H802H1980H312H376H7725H776H2610H2610H2181H7227H7453H7725H5002H3068 2“Look at the shrines on every hilltop. Is there any place you have not been defiled by your adultery with other gods? You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer. You sit alone like a nomad in the desert. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.H5375H5869H8205H7200H375H7693H7901H1870H3427H6163H4057H2610H776H2184H7451 3That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.H7241H4513H4456H2181H802H4696H3985H3637 4Yet you say to me, ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.H7121H1H441H5271 5Surely you won’t be angry forever! Surely you can forget about it!’ So you talk, but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”H5201H5769H8104H5331H1696H6213H7451H3201

Judah Follows Israel’s Example

6During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree.H3068H559H3117H2977H4428H7200H4878H3478H6213H1980H1364H2022H8478H7488H6086H2181 7I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this.H559H310H6213H7725H7725H901H269H3063H7200 8She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.H7200H182H4878H3478H5003H7971H5414H5612H3748H898H269H3063H3372H3212H2181 9Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted.H6963H2184H2610H776H5003H68H6086 10But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the Lord, have spoken!”H901H269H3063H7725H3820H8267H5002H3068

Hope for Wayward Israel

11Then the Lord said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah!H3068H559H4878H3478H6663H5315H898H3063 12Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the Lord says: “O Israel, my faithless people, come home to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever.H1980H7121H1697H6828H559H7725H4878H3478H5002H3068H6440H5307H2623H5002H3068H5201H5769 13Only acknowledge your guilt. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God and committed adultery against him by worshiping idols under every green tree. Confess that you refused to listen to my voice. I, the Lord, have spoken!H3045H5771H6586H3068H430H6340H1870H2114H7488H6086H8085H6963H5002H3068 14“Return home, you wayward children,” says the Lord, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel—one from this town and two from that family—from wherever you are scattered.H7725H7726H1121H5002H3068H1166H3947H259H5892H8147H4940H935H6726 15And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.H5414H7462H3820H7462H1844H7919 16“And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the Lord, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark.H7235H6509H776H3117H5002H3068H559H727H1285H3068H5927H3820H2142H6485H6213 17In 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.H6256H7121H3389H3678H3068H1471H6960H8034H3068H3389H3212H310H8307H7451H3820 18In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave their ancestors as an inheritance forever.H3117H1004H3063H3212H1004H3478H935H3162H776H6828H776H5157H1 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.H559H7896H1121H5414H2532H776H6643H5159H6635H1471H559H7121H1H7725H310 20But 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.”H403H802H898H7453H898H1004H3478H5002H3068 21Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people. For they have chosen crooked paths and have forgotten the Lord their God.H6963H8085H8205H1065H8469H1121H3478H5753H1870H7911H3068H430 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.H7725H7726H1121H7495H4878H857H3068H430 23Our worship of idols on the hills and our religious orgies on the mountains are a delusion. Only in the Lord our God will Israel ever find salvation.H403H8267H1389H1995H2022H403H3068H430H8668H3478 24From childhood we have watched as everything our ancestors worked for—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—was squandered on a delusion.H1322H398H3018H1H5271H6629H1241H1121H1323 25Let us now lie down in shame and cover ourselves with dishonor, for we and our ancestors have sinned against the Lord our God. From our childhood to this day we have never obeyed him.”H7901H1322H3639H3680H2398H3068H430H1H5271H3117H8085H6963H3068H430