The people of Israel are as stubborn as mules. How can I feed them like lambs in a meadow?

The LORD says, "I will bring my people back to me. I will love them with all my heart; no longer am I angry with them.

but were rebellious and disloyal like their ancestors, unreliable as a crooked arrow.

They angered him with their heathen places of worship, and with their idols they made him furious.

Bad people will get what they deserve. Good people will be rewarded for their deeds.

When Josiah was king, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what Israel, that unfaithful woman, has done? She has turned away from me, and on every high hill and under every green tree she has acted like a prostitute.

Judah also saw that I divorced Israel and sent her away because she had turned from me and had become a prostitute. But Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, was not afraid. She too became a prostitute

Then the LORD told me that, even though Israel had turned away from him, she had proved to be better than unfaithful Judah.

Why then, my people, do you turn away from me without ever turning back? You cling to your idols and refuse to return to me.

My people cry out to me, 'Even though our sins accuse us, help us, LORD, as you have promised. We have turned away from you many times; we have sinned against you.

But the more I called to him, the more he turned away from me. My people sacrificed to Baal; they burned incense to idols.

They keep on turning away from me to a god that is powerless. They are as unreliable as a crooked bow. Because their leaders talk arrogantly, they will die a violent death, and the Egyptians will laugh."

The people had not been able to celebrate the Passover Festival at the proper time in the first month, because not enough priests were ritually clean and not many people had assembled in Jerusalem. So King Hezekiah, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem agreed to celebrate it in the second month, and the king sent word to all the people of Israel and Judah. He took special care to send letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the LORD, the God of Israel.

(SEE 30:1)

so they invited all the Israelites, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, to come together in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover according to the Law, in larger numbers than ever before.

Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the LORD their God. As you can see, he punished them severely.

If you return to the LORD, then those who have taken your relatives away as prisoners will take pity on them and let them come back home. The LORD your God is kind and merciful, and if you return to him, he will accept you."

Still, there were some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun who were willing to come to Jerusalem.

"But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not obey me.

The LORD says to the people of Israel, "Come to me, and you will live.

Go to the LORD, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out.