But if you return to me and carefully observe my commands, even though your exiles were banished to the farthest horizon,[a] I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have my name dwell.”(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 1:9 Lit skies

but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather(A) them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’(B)

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22 I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud,(A)
and your sins like a mist.
Return to me,(B)
for I have redeemed you.(C)

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22 I have swept away(A) your offenses like a cloud,
    your sins like the morning mist.
Return(B) to me,
    for I have redeemed(C) you.”

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I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’(A) But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah(B) saw it.

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I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister(A) Judah saw it.(B)

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10 Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with all her heart(A)—only in pretense.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

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10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return(A) to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,(B)” declares the Lord.(C)

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I will give them a heart to know me,(A) that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God because they will return to me with all their heart.(B)

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I will give them a heart to know(A) me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people,(B) and I will be their God, for they will return(C) to me with all their heart.(D)

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God’s Discipline and Israel’s Apostasy

I gave you absolutely nothing to eat[a](A) in all your cities,
a shortage of food in all your communities,
yet you did not return to me.(B)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

I also withheld the rain from you(C)
while there were still three months until harvest.
I sent rain on one city
but no rain on another.(D)
One field received rain
while a field with no rain withered.(E)
Two or three cities staggered
to another city to drink water(F)
but were not satisfied,(G)
yet you did not return(H) to me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

I struck you with blight and mildew;(I)
the locust devoured(J)
your many gardens and vineyards,
your fig trees and olive trees,(K)
yet you did not return to me.(L)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

10 I sent plagues like those of Egypt;(M)
I killed your young men with the sword,(N)
along with your captured horses.(O)
I caused the stench of your camp
to fill your nostrils,(P)
yet you did not return to me.(Q)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

11 I overthrew some of you
as I[b] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,(R)
and you were like a burning stick
snatched from a fire,(S)
yet you did not return to me(T)
This is the Lord’s declaration.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:6 Lit you cleanness of teeth
  2. 4:11 Lit God

“I gave you empty stomachs in every city
    and lack of bread in every town,
    yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.(A)

“I also withheld(B) rain from you
    when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
    but withheld it from another.(C)
One field had rain;
    another had none and dried up.
People staggered from town to town for water(D)
    but did not get enough(E) to drink,
    yet you have not returned(F) to me,”
declares the Lord.(G)

“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
    destroying them with blight and mildew.(H)
Locusts(I) devoured your fig and olive trees,(J)
    yet you have not returned(K) to me,”
declares the Lord.

10 “I sent plagues(L) among you
    as I did to Egypt.(M)
I killed your young men(N) with the sword,
    along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench(O) of your camps,
    yet you have not returned to me,”(P)
declares the Lord.(Q)

11 “I overthrew some of you
    as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.(R)
You were like a burning stick(S) snatched from the fire,
    yet you have not returned to me,”
declares the Lord.(T)

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Robbing God

“Since the days of your ancestors, you have turned from my statutes; you have not kept them.(A) Return to me,(B) and I will return to you,”(C) says the Lord of Armies.

Yet you ask, “How can we return?”

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Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away(A) from my decrees and have not kept them. Return(B) to me, and I will return to you,”(C) says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask,(D) ‘How are we to return?’

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