callest me "Father, 4
Friend of my youth!"
"Bears _He_ a grudge for ever, 5
Stands on His guard for aye?"(174)
Lo, so thou hast spoken, yet done
Ills to thine utmost.

6. And the Lord said unto me in the days of Josiah, the king,(175)
Hast thou seen what recreant Israel did to Me(176) going up every
high hill and under each rustling tree, and there playing the
harlot. 7. And I said, After she has done all these things can she
return to Me?--and she did not return. 8. And her treacherous
sister Judah saw, yes she saw,(177) that, all because recreant
Israel committed adultery, I had dismissed her and given her the
bill of her divorce; yet her sister treacherous Judah was not
afraid, but also went and played the harlot. 9. And it came to
pass that, through the wantonness of her harlotry, she polluted
the land, committing adultery with stones and with stocks. 10. And
yet, for all this, treacherous Judah(178) has not returned to Me
with all her heart, but only in feigning.(179) 11. And the Lord
said to me, Recreant Israel hath justified herself more than
treacherous Judah. 12. Go and call out these words toward the
North and say,

Turn thee to Me,(180) recreant Israel,
I frown(181) not upon thee;
For gracious am I (Rede of the Lord),
Nor for ever bear grudge.
Only acknowledge thy guilt, 13
That defying the Lord thy God,
Thou hast scattered to strangers thy ways
Under each rustling tree,
And hast(182) not obeyed My voice--
Rede of the Lord.

14. [Return ye backsliding children, Rede of the Lord, for I am
your Baal,(183) and I will take you, one from a city and two from
a clan, and will bring you to Sion. 15. And I will give you
Shepherds after My heart, and they shall shepherd you with
knowledge and with skill. 16. And it shall be, when ye multiply
and increase in the land in those days (Rede of the Lord), they
shall not again say, "The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord!" It
shall not come to mind, it shall be neither remembered nor
missed,(184) nor shall it be made again. 17. At that time they
shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord and all nations shall
gather to her,(185) nor walk any more after the stubbornness of
their evil hearts. 18. In those days the House of Judah shall walk
with the House of Israel, that together