Jeremiah 3:11-Jeremiah 4:4 - A Call For Repentance
11 Jehovah said to me: Treacherous Judah was more reprehensible than unfaithful Israel. 12 Go and proclaim this message to the north: 'Come back, unfaithful Israel. It is Jehovah speaking. I will no longer frown on you because I am merciful,' declares Jehovah. 'I will no longer be angry with you. 13 Admit that you have done wrong! You have rebelled against Jehovah your God. You have given yourself to foreign gods under every large tree. You have not obeyed me,' says Jehovah.
14 Return, you disobedient people, proclaims Jehovah. I am your husband. I will take you, one from every city and two from every family, and bring you to Zion.' 15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart. They will be shepherds who feed (shepherd) (lead) (tend) you with knowledge and understanding (learning) (reasoning) (insight). 16 In those days you will be fertile, and your population will increase in the land, says Jehovah. Men will no longer talk about the Ark of the Covenant of Jehovah. It will no longer come to mind. They will not remember it, miss it, or make another one. 17 At that time, they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah. All nations will gather in Jerusalem because the name of Jehovah will be found there. They will no longer follow their own stubborn, evil ways. 18 Then the nation of Judah will live with the nation of Israel. They will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave their ancestors as their own inheritance.
19 I wanted to treat you like children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful property among the nations. I thought you would call me Father and not turn away from me. 20 But like a wife who is unfaithful to her husband, so you, O house of Israel, were unfaithful me, says Jehovah.
21 A voice is heard on the bare hills. It is the crying and the pleading of the people of Israel. They are perverted and have forgotten Jehovah their God. 22 Return you backsliding children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful. See, we have come to you because you are Jehovah our God. 23 Truly the sound from the hills and mountains is the noise of false worship. Truly Jehovah our God will be our salvation. 24 Ever since we were young, the shameful worship of Baal has taken everything our ancestors worked for, their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters. 25 We must lie down in our shame and let our humiliation cover us. Ever since we were young, we and our fathers have sinned against Jehovah our God. We have not obeyed Jehovah our God.
1 Jehovah says: If you come back, Israel, if you come back to me, if you take your disgusting idols out of my sight and you do not stray from me, 2 if you take the oath, as Jehovah lives in an honest, fair, and right way, then the nations will be blessed, and in him they will glory.
3 Jehovah says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: Break up your unplowed fields, and do not plant among thorns. 4 Be circumcised by Jehovah, and get rid of the foreskins of your hearts (cleanse your hearts), people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. If you do not, my fury will blaze like a fire. It will burn, and no one will be able to put it out. This is because of the evil you do.