"Suppose a man marries a woman and later decides that he doesn't want her, because he finds something about her that he doesn't like. So he writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home.

and he also decides that he doesn't want her, so he also writes out divorce papers, gives them to her, and sends her away from his home. Or suppose her second husband dies.

and was not at all ashamed. She defiled the land, and she committed adultery by worshiping stones and trees.

I brought them into a fertile land, to enjoy its harvests and its other good things. But instead they ruined my land; they defiled the country I had given them.

Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these acts, for that is how the pagans made themselves unclean, those pagans who lived in the land before you and whom the LORD is driving out so that you can go in.

They did all these disgusting things and made the land unclean, but you must not do them. All of you, whether Israelites or foreigners living with you, must keep the LORD's laws and commands,

and then the land will not reject you, as it rejected the pagans who lived there before you.

The people have defiled the earth by breaking God's laws and by violating the covenant he made to last forever.

Get up and go; there is no safety here any more. Your sins have doomed this place to destruction.

The Sovereign LORD says, "Israel, long ago you rejected my authority; you refused to obey me and worship me. On every high hill and under every green tree you worshiped fertility gods.

How can you say you have not defiled yourself, that you have never worshiped Baal? Look how you sinned in the valley; see what you have done. You are like a wild camel in heat, running around loose,

then they are to take her out to the entrance of her father's house, where the men of her city are to stone her to death. She has done a shameful thing among our people by having intercourse before she was married, while she was still living in her father's house. In this way you will get rid of this evil.

But she became angry with him, went back to her father's house in Bethlehem, and stayed there four months.

You let your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, go to bed with you, and you used your prostitution to make me angry.

"Because you were not satisfied by the others, you went running after the Assyrians. You were their prostitute, but they didn't satisfy you either.

You were also a prostitute for the Babylonians, that nation of merchants, but they didn't satisfy you either."

The older one was named Oholah (she represents Samaria), and the younger one was named Oholibah (she represents Jerusalem). I married both of them, and they bore me children.

They were soldiers in uniforms of purple, noblemen and high-ranking officers; all of them were handsome young cavalry officers.

She continued what she had begun as a prostitute in Egypt, where she lost her virginity. From the time she was a young woman, men slept with her and treated her like a prostitute.

They stripped her naked, seized her sons and daughters, and then killed her with a sword. Women everywhere gossiped about her fate.

She too was full of lust for the Assyrian noblemen and officers---soldiers in bright uniforms---and for the cavalry officers, all of those handsome young men.

"She sank deeper and deeper in her immorality. She was attracted by the images of high Babylonian officials carved into the wall and painted bright red, with sashes around their waists and fancy turbans on their heads.

As soon as she saw them, she was filled with lust and sent messengers to them in Babylonia.

She exposed herself publicly and let everyone know she was a whore. I was as disgusted with her as I had been with her sister.

She was filled with lust for oversexed men who had all the lustfulness of donkeys or stallions."

"Now then, Oholibah, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to you. You are tired of those lovers, but I will make them angry with you and bring them to surround you.

They will attack you from the north, bringing a large army with chariots and supply wagons. Protected by shields and helmets, they will surround you. I will hand you over to them, and they will judge you by their own laws.

They will tear off your clothes and take your jewels.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "I will hand you over to people you hate and are disgusted with.

have brought this on you. You were a prostitute for the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

The Sovereign LORD says, "You will drink from your sister's cup; it is large and deep. Everyone will scorn and mock you; the cup is full.

You will drink and drain it dry, and with its broken pieces tear your breast. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

The LORD said to me, "Mortal man, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholibah? Accuse them of the disgusting things they have done.

And that is not all they did. They profaned my Temple and broke the Sabbath, which I had established.

"Again and again they sent messengers to invite men to come from a great distance, and the men came. The two sisters would bathe and put on eye shadow and jewelry.

The sound of a carefree crowd could be heard, a group of men brought in from the desert. They put bracelets on the women's arms and beautiful crowns on their heads.

They went back to these prostitutes again and again. They went back to Oholah and Oholibah, those immoral women.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "Bring a mob to terrorize them and rob them.

Throughout the land I will put a stop to immorality, as a warning to every woman not to commit adultery as they did.

When the LORD first spoke to Israel through Hosea, he said to Hosea, "Go and get married; your wife will be unfaithful, and your children will be just like her. In the same way my people have left me and become unfaithful."

(SEE 2:4)

She will run after her lovers but will not catch them. She will look for them but will not find them. Then she will say, "I am going back to my first husband---I was better off then than I am now."

He told me to go and say to Israel, "Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you forever.

"Unfaithful people, come back; you belong to me. I will take one of you from each town and two from each clan, and I will bring you back to Mount Zion.

The LORD says, "People of Israel, if you want to turn, then turn back to me. If you are faithful to me and remove the idols I hate,

Jerusalem, wash the evil from your heart, so that you may be saved. How long will you go on thinking sinful thoughts?

The LORD told me to say to his people, "When someone falls down, doesn't he get back up? If someone misses the road, doesn't he turn back?

I listened carefully, but you did not speak the truth. Not one of you has been sorry for your wickedness; not one of you has asked, 'What have I done wrong?' Each of you keep on going your own way, like a horse rushing into battle.

There you will look for the LORD your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.

He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.

Turn to the LORD and pray to him, now that he is near.

"My thoughts," says the LORD, "are not like yours, and my ways are different from yours.

Tell them that as surely as I, the Sovereign LORD, am the living God, I do not enjoy seeing sinners die. I would rather see them stop sinning and live. Israel, stop the evil you are doing. Why do you want to die?

Return to the LORD your God, people of Israel. Your sin has made you stumble and fall.

Assyria can never save us, and war horses cannot protect us. We will never again say to our idols that they are our God. O LORD, you show mercy to those who have no one else to turn to."

but now I say to you, 'Return to me, and I will return to you.

He wished he could fill himself with the bean pods the pigs ate, but no one gave him anything to eat.

I will get up and go to my father and say, "Father, I have sinned against God and against you.

So he got up and started back to his father. "He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him.

But the father called to his servants. 'Hurry!' he said. 'Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet.

For this son of mine was dead, but now he is alive; he was lost, but now he has been found.' And so the feasting began.