²⁰ Long ago you broke your yoke,^(A)
    you tore off your bonds.
    You said, “I will not serve.”
On every high hill, under every green tree,
    you sprawled and served as a prostitute.^[a]

¹ If a man divorces his wife^(A)
    and she leaves him
    and then becomes the wife of another,
Can she return to the first?^[a]
    Would not this land be wholly defiled?
But you have played the prostitute with many lovers,
    and yet you would return to me!—oracle of the Lord.
² Raise your eyes to the heights, and look,
    where have men not lain with you?
Along the roadways you waited for them
    like an Arabian^[b] in the wilderness.
You defiled the land
    by your wicked prostitution.^(B)
3 Therefore the showers were withheld,
    the spring rain did not fall.
But because you have a prostitute’s brow,
    you refused to be ashamed.^(C)
4 Even now do you not call me, “My father,
    you are the bridegroom of my youth?
⁵ Will he keep his wrath forever,
    will he hold his grudge to the end?”
This is what you say; yet you do
    all the evil you can.

¹⁹ I thought:
    How I would like to make you my children!
So I gave you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful heritage among the nations!
You would call me, “My Father,” I thought,
    and you would never turn away from me.^(N)
20 But like a woman faithless to her lover,
    thus have you been faithless to me,
    house of Israel—oracle of the Lord.^(O)
21 A cry is heard on the heights!
    the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
Because they have perverted their way,
    they have forgotten the Lord, their God.
²² Return, rebellious children!
    I will heal your rebellions.
“Here we are! We belong to you,
    for you are the Lord, our God.^(P)
23 Deceptive indeed are the hills,
    the mountains, clamorous;
Only in the Lord our God
    is Israel’s salvation.^(Q)
24 The shameful thing^[d] has devoured
    our ancestors’ worth from our youth,
Their sheep and cattle,
    their sons and daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,
    let our disgrace cover us,
    for we have sinned against the Lord, our God,
We and our ancestors, from our youth to this day;
    we did not listen to the voice of the Lord, our God.”^(R)

¹ Hear the word of the Lord, Israelites,
    for the Lord has a dispute
    with the inhabitants of the land:^(A)
There is no fidelity, no loyalty,
    no knowledge of God in the land.
² Swearing, lying, murder,
    stealing and adultery break out;^[b]
    bloodshed follows bloodshed.^(B)

⁹ Like people, like priest:^(A)
    I will punish them for their ways,
    and repay them for their deeds.
¹⁰ They will eat but not be satisfied,^(B)
    they will promote prostitution^[a] but not increase,
Because they have abandoned the Lord,
    devoting themselves
¹¹     to prostitution.
Aged wine and new wine
    take away understanding.^(C)
12 My people consult their piece of wood,^[b]
    and their wand makes pronouncements for them,
For the spirit of prostitution has led them astray;
    they prostitute themselves, forsaking their God.
¹³ On the mountaintops they offer sacrifice
    and on the hills they burn incense,
Beneath oak and poplar and terebinth,
    because of their pleasant shade.^[c]
Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves,
    and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters for their prostitution,
    nor your daughters-in-law for their adultery,
Because the men themselves consort with prostitutes,
    and with temple women^[d] they offer sacrifice!
Thus a people without understanding comes to ruin.