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19     “I thought to Myself how much I wanted to welcome you home as children
        and bless you with a good land and a future to be envied by all the world.
    I hoped for the day when you would call Me ‘My Father,’
        and no longer pull away from Me and My ways.
20     But just as an unfaithful wife betrays her husband,
        so have you betrayed Me, O house of Israel.”

Jeremiah tells the people what could happen, if only they will repent. The prophet hopes for dialogue between Israel and the God who has never stopped loving her.

21 A sound now echoes from the deserted hills
    where Israel betrayed her God.
It is the sound of bitter tears mixed with the prayers
    of the lost and rebellious people of Israel
    who have forgotten the Eternal, their True God.

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19 “I myself said,

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,(A)
    the most beautiful inheritance(B) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’(C)
    and not turn away from following me.
20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful(D) to me,”
declares the Lord.

21 A cry is heard on the barren heights,(E)
    the weeping(F) and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
    and have forgotten(G) the Lord their God.

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