The Wages of the Harlot
“If a man divorces his wife Deu 24:1-4Ezk 16:26Deu 4:29-31Ezk 16:28-29Ezk 23:4-49Hos 14:1-4Hos 2:5-7Jer 2:20
and she leaves him to marry another,
can he ever return to her?
Would not such a land be completely defiled?
But you have played the harlot with many lovers—
and you would return to Me?”
declares the LORD.
“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Ezk 16:24-25Ezk 8:4-6Gen 38:14Jer 2:20Jer 2:7Deu 12:2Jer 3:11Ki 11:3
Is there any place where you have not been violated?
You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers,
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withheld, Lev 26:19Jer 5:24Amo 4:7Deu 28:23Isa 5:6Jer 14:22Jer 14:4Hag 1:11
and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
you refuse to be ashamed.
Have you not just called to Me, Jer 2:2Jer 3:19Jer 31:9Hos 2:15Jer 2:27Jer 31:18-20Pro 2:17Psa 71:17
‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.
Will He be angry forever? Ezk 22:6Isa 57:16Jer 3:12Mic 2:1Mic 7:3Isa 64:9Psa 103:8-9Psa 77:7-9
Will He be indignant to the end?’
This you have spoken,
but you keep doing all the evil you can.”
Judah Follows Israel’s Example
Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. 1Ki 14:232Ki 17:7-17Ezk 16:24-25Ezk 16:31Ezk 20:28Ezk 23:11Isa 57:7Jer 17:2 I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. Ezk 16:462Ch 30:6-122Ki 17:13-14Ezk 23:2-4Hos 14:1Hos 6:1-4Jer 3:8-11
She saw 1that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. Deu 24:12Ki 18:9-11Hos 2:2-3Hos 3:4Hos 4:15-17Isa 50:12Ki 17:6-19Deu 24:3 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Jer 2:27Isa 57:6Jer 3:2Hab 2:19Jer 10:8Jer 2:7Ezk 16:17Ezk 23:10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD. Hos 7:14Jer 12:22Ch 34:33Isa 10:6Psa 18:44Psa 66:3Psa 78:36-37
A Call to Repentance
(Hosea 14:1–3; Zechariah 1:1–6)
And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. Ezk 16:51-52Ezk 23:11Hos 11:7Ezk 16:47Hos 4:16Jer 3:22Jer 3:8 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: Ezk 33:11Psa 86:15Deu 4:29-31Hos 14:1-3Jer 3:22Mic 7:18-20Jer 3:18Jer 31:20
‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD.
‘I will no longer look on you with anger,
for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD.
‘I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt, Deu 12:2Deu 30:1-3Jer 2:25Jer 3:25Jer 3:61Jn 1:8-10Jer 14:20Jer 2:20
that you have rebelled against the LORD your God.
You have scattered your favors to foreign gods
under every green tree
and have not obeyed My voice,’”
declares the LORD.
“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion. Hos 2:19-20Jer 2:19Jer 31:32Isa 54:5Ezk 34:11-14Jer 31:8-10Zec 13:7-9Isa 10:22 Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” Jer 23:4Act 20:28Eph 4:11-12Ezk 34:23Jhn 21:15-17Isa 30:20-21Pro 10:211Co 3:1-2
“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made. Amo 9:14-15Ezk 37:26Isa 65:17Hos 1:10-11Isa 66:1-2Zec 8:4-5Ezk 36:8-12Heb 10:19-21
At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. Ezk 43:7Jer 17:12Mic 4:1-5Zec 2:11Jer 11:8Zec 8:20-23Isa 2:2-4Isa 49:18-23 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance. Jer 31:8Amo 9:15Hos 1:11Jer 23:8Jer 50:4Jer 16:15Jer 3:12Zec 10:6
Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons Jer 3:4Rom 8:15-17Jer 31:9Isa 63:161Jn 3:1-3Jer 32:39-40Mat 6:8-92Co 6:17-18
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance
of all the nations!’
I thought you would call Me ‘Father’
and never turn away from following Me.
But as a woman may betray her husband, Isa 48:8Jer 5:11Ezk 16:15-52Hos 3:1Hos 5:7Hos 6:7Jer 3:1-2Jer 3:8-10
so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”
declares the LORD.
A voice is heard on the barren heights, 2Co 7:10Jer 2:32Jer 3:2Jer 31:9Isa 15:2Isa 17:10Ezk 23:35Ezk 7:16
the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,
because they have perverted their ways
and forgotten the LORD their God.
“Return, O faithless children, Hos 14:1Hos 14:4Zec 13:9Hos 6:1-2Jer 30:17Hos 13:4Hos 3:5Jer 31:18
and I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Here we are. We come to You,
for You are the LORD our God.
Surely deception comes from the hills, Psa 121:1-2Psa 3:8Isa 12:2Ezk 20:28Hos 1:7Jhn 4:22Isa 43:11Isa 44:9
and commotion from the mountains.
Surely the salvation of Israel
is in the LORD our God.
From our youth, that shameful god Hos 9:10Ezk 16:61Ezk 16:63Hos 10:6Hos 2:8Jer 11:13
has consumed what our fathers have worked for—
their flocks and herds,
their sons and daughters.
Let us lie down in our shame; Jer 22:21Ezk 7:18Jer 2:26Lam 5:16Pro 5:13Dan 9:6-10Deu 31:17-18Isa 50:11
let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the LORD our God,
both we and our fathers;
from our youth even to this day
we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”