CHAPTER 3
1 It is said commonly, If a man forsaketh his wife, and she go away from him, and be wedded to another husband, whether he shall turn again [any] more to her? whether that woman shall not be defouled, and made unclean? Forsooth thou hast done fornication with many lovers; nevertheless turn thou again to me, saith the Lord, and I shall receive thee.
2 Raise thine eyes into straight, and see, where thou art not cast down. Thou hast sat in ways, abiding them as a thief in wilderness, and thou hast defouled the earth in thy fornications and in thy malices.
3 Wherefore the drops of rains were forbidden, and no late rain was. The forehead of a woman whore is made to thee; thou wouldest not be ashamed.
4 Namely from this time forth call thou me, Thou art my father, the leader of my virginity.
5 Whether thou shalt be wroth without end, either shalt continue into the end? Lo! thou hast spoken, and hast done evils, and thou were mighty. And for words of penance thou blasphemedest by words of pride; and thou filledest thine evil thought, and showedest thy strength against thy husband, that thou mayest do that thing that thou treatedest by word.
6 And the Lord said to me, in the days of Josiah, the king, Whether thou hast seen what thing the adversary, Israel, hath done? She went [away] to herself on each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs, and did fornication there.
7 And I said, when she had done all these things, Turn thou again to me; and she turned not again. And her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, saw,
8 that for the adversary, Israel, did adultery, I had let her go, and I had given to her a libel, or a little book, of forsaking; and Judah, her sister, breaker of the law, dreaded not, but also she went, and did fornication.
9 And by lightness of her fornication she defouled the earth, and did adultery with a stone, and with a tree.
10 And in all these things her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, turned not again to me, in all her heart, but in a leasing, saith the Lord God.
11 And the Lord said to me, The adversary, Israel, hath justified her soul, in comparison of Judah, breaker of the law.
12 Go thou, and cry these words against the north; and thou shalt say, Thou adversary, Israel, turn again, saith the Lord, and I shall not turn away my face from you; for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I shall not be wroth without end.
13 Nevertheless know thou thy wickedness; for thou hast trespassed against thy Lord God, and thou hast spread abroad thy ways to aliens under each tree full of boughs; and thou heardest not my voice, saith the Lord.
14 Be ye converted, sons, turning again, saith the Lord, for I am your husband; and I shall take you, one of a city, and twain [or two] of a kindred, and I shall lead you into Zion;
15 and I shall give to you shepherds after mine heart, and they shall feed you with knowing and teaching.
16 And when ye shall be multiplied, and increase in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall no more say, The ark of [the] testament of the Lord; neither it shall ascend [or go up] on the heart, neither they shall think on it, neither it shall be visited, neither it shall be further.
17 In that time they shall call Jerusalem The seat of the Lord, and all heathen men shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem; and they shall not go after the shrewdness of their worst heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel; and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers.
19 Forsooth I said, How shall I set [or put] thee among sons, and shall give to thee a desirable land, a full clear heritage of the hosts of heathen men? And I said, Thou shalt call me, Father, and thou shalt not cease to enter after me.
20 But as if a woman despiseth her lover, so the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord.
21 A voice is heard in ways, the weeping and yelling of the sons of Israel; for they made wicked their way, they forgat their Lord God.
22 Be ye converted, sons, turning again, and I shall heal your turnings away. Lo! we come to thee; for thou art our Lord God.
23 Verily the little hills were liars, the multitude of mountains was false; verily in our Lord God is the health of Israel.
24 Shame ate the travail of our fathers, from our youth; shame ate the flocks of them, and the droves of them, the sons of them, and the daughters of them.
25 We shall sleep in our shame, and our shame shall cover us; for we sinned to our Lord God, both we and our fathers, from our youth unto this day; and we have not heard the voice of our Lord God.