The Bible
Jeremiah Chapter 3
1"They say, 'If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again?' Wouldn't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me," says ForeverOne
2"Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them along the roads, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.
3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you have a prostitute's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.
4Will you not from this time cry to me, 'My Father, you are the guide of my youth?' 5"'Will he retain [his anger] forever? Will he keep it to the end?' Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way." 6Moreover, ForeverOne
7I said after she had done all these things, 'She will return to me;' but she didn't return; and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, didn't fear; but she also went and played the prostitute.
9Through the lightness of her prostitution, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense," says ForeverOne
11ForeverOne
12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, 'Return, you backsliding Israel,' says ForeverOne
13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against ForeverOne
15I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days," says ForeverOne
17At that time they shall call Jerusalem 'The throne of ForeverOne
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 gave for an inheritance to your fathers.
19"But I said, 'How I would put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!' and I said, 'You shall call me "My Father," and shall not turn away from following me.' 20"Surely
21A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping [and] the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten ForeverOne
22Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. "Behold, we have come to you; for you are ForeverOne
23Truly
24But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against ForeverOne
The Bible text is a minor adaptation of the WEB
to include nuanced meanings of particular ancient words for placenames, God and others of special interest.
In general square brackets:[] are used to indicated words not found in the original text.
They also indicate the 5 books of the Psalms, and the letters in Psalm 119;
and a few passages considered by some to be of questionable authenticity, marked with an asterisk(*).
