For spurned hath the Lord the things of thy trust, Not by them shalt thou prosper! III. 1. [Saying]:—If a man dismiss his wife and she go from him and become another man’s, shall she return to him?(171) Is that woman(172) not too polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers and—wouldest return unto Me? Rede of the Lord. Lift to the clearings thine eyes, 2 Where not wast thou tumbled? For them by the roads thou hast sate, Like an Arab in desert, Thou hast fouled the land with thy whoredoms And with thy vices; With thy lovers so many 3 It has meant but thy snare.(173) The brow of a harlot was thine, Shame thou hadst done with. But now—thou callest me “Father, 4 Friend of my youth!” “Bears _He_ a grudge for ever, 5 Stands on His guard for aye?”(174) Lo, so thou hast spoken, yet done Ills to thine utmost. 6. And the Lord said unto me in the days of Josiah, the king,(175) Hast thou seen what recreant Israel did to Me(176) going up every high hill and under each rustling tree, and there playing the harlot. 7. And I said, After she has done all these things can she return to Me?—and she did not return. 8. And her treacherous sister Judah saw, yes she saw,(177) that, all because recreant Israel committed adultery, I had dismissed her and given her the bill of her divorce; yet her sister treacherous Judah was not afraid, but also went and played the harlot. 9. And it came to pass that, through the wantonness of her harlotry, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stones and with stocks. 10. And yet, for all this, treacherous Judah(178) has not returned to Me with all her heart, but only in feigning.(179) 11. And the Lord said to me, Recreant Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12. Go and call out these words toward the North and say, Turn thee to Me,(180) recreant Israel, I frown(181) not upon thee; For gracious am I (Rede of the Lord), Nor for ever bear grudge. Only acknowledge thy guilt, 13 That defying the Lord thy God, Thou hast scattered to strangers thy ways Under each rustling tree, And hast(182) not obeyed My voice— Rede of the Lord.