26As the thief is ashamed when he is caught,

so the house of Israel is disgraced.

They, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets

27say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’

and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

For they have turned their backs to Me

and not their faces,

yet in the time of trouble they beg,

‘Rise up and save us!’

28But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them rise up in your time of trouble

and save you if they can;

for your gods are as numerous

as your cities, O Judah.

29Why do you bring a case against Me?

You have all rebelled against Me,”

declares the LORD.

30“I have struck your sons in vain;

they accepted no discipline.

Your own sword has devoured your prophets

like a voracious lion.”

31You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD:

“Have I been a wilderness to Israel

or a land of dense darkness?

Why do My people say,

‘We are free to roam;

we will come to You no more’?

32Does a maiden forget her jewelry

or a bride her wedding sash?

Yet My people have forgotten Me

for days without number.

33How skillfully you pursue love!

Even the most immoral of women

could learn from your ways.

34Moreover, your skirts are stained

with the blood of the innocent poor,

though you did not find them breaking in.

But in spite of all these things

35you say, ‘I am innocent.

Surely His anger will turn from me.’

Behold, I will judge you,

because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

36How unstable you are,

constantly changing your ways!

You will be disappointed by Egypt

just as you were by Assyria.

37Moreover, you will leave that place

with your hands on your head,

for the LORD has rejected those you trust;

you will not prosper by their help.”

The Wages of the Harlot

1“If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him to marry another,

can he ever return to her?

Would not such a land be completely defiled?

But you have played the harlot with many lovers—

and you would return to Me?”

declares the LORD.

2“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see.

Is there any place where you have not been violated?

You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers,

like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

with your prostitution and wickedness.

3Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and no spring rains have fallen.

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;

you refuse to be ashamed.

4Have you not just called to Me,

‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

5Will He be angry forever?

Will He be indignant to the end?’

This you have spoken,

but you keep doing all the evil you can.”

12Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD.

‘I will no longer look on you with anger,

for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD.

‘I will not be angry forever.

13Only acknowledge your guilt,

that you have rebelled against the LORD your God.

You have scattered your favors to foreign gods

under every green tree

and have not obeyed My voice,’”

declares the LORD.

19Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons

and give you a desirable land,

the most beautiful inheritance

of all the nations!’

I thought you would call Me ‘Father’

and never turn away from following Me.

20But as a woman may betray her husband,

so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”

declares the LORD.

21A voice is heard on the barren heights,

the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,

because they have perverted their ways

and forgotten the LORD their God.

22“Return, O faithless children,

and I will heal your faithlessness.”

“Here we are. We come to You,

for You are the LORD our God.

23Surely deception comes from the hills,

and commotion from the mountains.

Surely the salvation of Israel

is in the LORD our God.

24From our youth, that shameful god

has consumed what our fathers have worked for—

their flocks and herds,

their sons and daughters.

25Let us lie down in our shame;

let our disgrace cover us.

We have sinned against the LORD our God,

both we and our fathers;

from our youth even to this day

we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

A Plea to Return

1“If you will return, O Israel,

return to Me,” declares the LORD.

“If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight

and no longer waver,

2and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’

in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,

then the nations will be blessed by Him,

and in Him they will glory.”

3For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

“Break up your unplowed ground,

and do not sow among the thorns.

4Circumcise yourselves to the LORD,

and remove the foreskins of your hearts,

O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem.

Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire

and burn with no one to extinguish it,

because of your evil deeds.”

Disaster from the North

5Announce in Judah, proclaim in Jerusalem, and say:

“Blow the ram’s horn throughout the land.

Cry aloud and say,

‘Assemble yourselves

and let us flee to the fortified cities.’

6Raise a signal flag toward Zion.

Seek refuge! Do not delay!

For I am bringing disaster from the north,

and terrible destruction.

7A lion has gone up from his thicket,

and a destroyer of nations has set out.

He has left his lair

to lay waste your land.

Your cities will be reduced to ruins

and lie uninhabited.

8So put on sackcloth,

mourn and wail,

for the fierce anger of the LORD

has not turned away from us.”

9“In that day,” declares the LORD,

“the king and officials will lose their courage.

The priests will tremble in fear,

and the prophets will be astounded.”

13Behold, he advances like the clouds,

his chariots like the whirlwind.

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe to us, for we are ruined!

14Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem,

so that you may be saved.

How long will you harbor

wicked thoughts within you?

15For a voice resounds from Dan,

proclaiming disaster from the hills of Ephraim.

16Warn the nations now!

Proclaim to Jerusalem:

“A besieging army comes from a distant land;

they raise their voices against the cities of Judah.

17They surround her like men guarding a field,

because she has rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

18“Your ways and deeds

have brought this upon you.

This is your punishment; how bitter it is,

because it pierces to the heart!”

Lamentation for Judah

19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!

Oh, the pain in my chest!

My heart pounds within me;

I cannot be silent.

For I have heard the sound of the horn,

the alarm of battle.

20Disaster after disaster is proclaimed,

for the whole land is laid waste.

My tents are destroyed in an instant,

my curtains in a moment.

21How long must I see the signal flag

and hear the sound of the horn?

22“For My people are fools;

they have not known Me.

They are foolish children,

without understanding.

They are skilled in doing evil,

but they know not how to do good.”

23I looked at the earth,

and it was formless and void;

I looked to the heavens,

and they had no light.

24I looked at the mountains,

and behold, they were quaking;

all the hills were swaying.

25I looked, and no man was left;

all the birds of the air had fled.

26I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert.

All its cities were torn down

before the LORD,

before His fierce anger.

27For this is what the LORD says:

“The whole land will be desolate,

but I will not finish its destruction.

28Therefore the earth will mourn

and the heavens above will grow dark.

I have spoken, I have planned,

and I will not relent or turn back.”

29Every city flees

at the sound of the horseman and archer.

They enter the thickets

and climb among the rocks.

Every city is abandoned;

no inhabitant is left.

30And you, O devastated one, what will you do,

though you dress yourself in scarlet,

though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,

though you enlarge your eyes with paint?

You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you;

they want to take your life.

31For I hear a cry like a woman in labor,

a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child—

the cry of the Daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands to say,

“Woe is me,

for my soul faints before the murderers!”

No One Is Just

1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem.

Look now and take note; search her squares.

If you can find a single person,

anyone who acts justly,

anyone who seeks the truth,

then I will forgive the city.