The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah

 1 They say, If a man ^aput 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 ^bpolluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord.

 2 Lift 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 ^awhoredoms and with thy wickedness.

 3 Therefore the ^ashowers have been withholden, and there hath been no ^blatter ^crain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

 4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?

 5 Will he reserve his ^aanger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.

 6 ¶The 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.

 7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous ^asister Judah saw it.

 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed ^aadultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of ^bdivorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.

 9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and ^acommitted adultery with ^bstones and with ^cstocks.

 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but ^afeignedly, saith the Lord.

 11 And the Lord said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath ^ajustified herself more than treacherous Judah.

 12 ¶Go and ^aproclaim these words toward the ^bnorth, and say, ^cReturn, 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.

 13 Only 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 ^aobeyed my voice, saith the Lord.

 14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am ^amarried unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will ^bbring you to ^cZion:

 15 And I will give you ^apastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with ^bknowledge and understanding.

 16 And 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 ^aark 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.

 17 At that time they shall call ^aJerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the ^bnations shall be ^cgathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the ^dimagination of their evil heart.

 18 In those days the ^ahouse of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the ^bland of the ^cnorth to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

 19 But 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.

 20 ¶Surely as a wife treacherously ^adeparteth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.

 21 A 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.

 22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will ^aheal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.

 23 Truly 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.

 24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

 25 We lie down in our ^ashame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have ^bsinned 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.