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Israel Forsakes God (continued)
3:1 They say, If a man put 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 polluted? but thou
hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to
me, saith the LORD.
3:2 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 whoredoms and with thy
wickedness.
3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there
hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead,
thou refusedst to be ashamed.
3:4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father,
thou art the guide of my youth?
3:5 Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to
the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as
thou couldest.
Unfaithful Israel
3:6 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.
3:7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn
thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous
sister Judah saw it.
3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding
Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her
a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared
not, but went and played the harlot also.
3:9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her
whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery
with stones and with stocks.
3:10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath
not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly,
saith the LORD.
3:11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath
justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
Return, 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.
3:13 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 obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
3:14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am
married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two
of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
3:15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart,
which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16 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 ark 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.
3:17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of
the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to
the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk
any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
3:18 In 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 have given for an
inheritance unto your fathers.
3:19 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.
3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her
husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of
Israel, saith the LORD.
3:21 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.
3:22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your
backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the
LORD our God.
3:23 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.
3:24 For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from
our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and
their daughters.
3:25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth
us: for we have sinned 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. |
Cults 
Why Did God Permit Sin?
