19 I thought: How I long to make you My sonsand give you a desirable land,the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations.I thought: You will call Me, my Father,and never turn away from Me.
20 However, as a woman may betray her lover, so you have betrayed Me, house of Israel.This is the Lord’s declaration.
21 A sound is heard on the barren heights,the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,for they have perverted their way;they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return, you faithless children.I will heal your unfaithfulness. “Here we are, coming to You,for You are the Lord our God.
23 Surely, falsehood comes from the hills,commotion from the mountains, but the salvation of Israelis only in the Lord our God.
24 From the time of our youththe shameful one has consumedwhat our fathers have worked for —their flocks and their herds,their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame;let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our fathers,from the time of our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”