Take me with you; let’s run together. The king takes me into his rooms. We will rejoice and be happy with you; we praise your love more than wine. With good reason, the young women love you.
Go and speak this message toward the north: ‘Come back, unfaithful people of Israel,’ says the Lord. ‘I will stop being angry at you, because I am full of mercy,’ says the Lord. ‘I will not be angry with you forever.
I will bring back your health and heal your injuries,” says the Lord, “because other people forced you away. They said about you, ‘No one cares about Jerusalem!’ ”
“I have heard Israel moaning: ‘Lord, you punished me, and I have learned my lesson. I was like a calf that had never been trained. Take me back so that I may come back. You truly are the Lord my God.
“So I will judge you, people of Israel; I will judge each of you by what you do, says the Lord God. Change your hearts and stop all your sinning so sin will not bring your ruin.
Say to them: ‘The Lord God says: As surely as I live, I do not want any who are wicked to die. I want them to stop doing evil and live. Stop! Stop your wicked ways! You don’t want to die, do you, people of Israel?’
Israel, have nothing to do with idols. I, the Lord, am the one who answers your prayers and watches over you. I am like a green pine tree; your blessings come from me.”
After this, the people of Israel will return to the Lord their God and follow him and the king from David’s family. In the last days they will turn in fear to the Lord, and he will bless them.
The third that is left I will test with fire, purifying them like silver, testing them like gold. Then they will call on me, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ ”