Daily Bread

“‘Return,^(U) faithless^(V) Israel,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,’^(W) declares the Lord,
    ‘I will not be angry^(X) forever.
¹³ Only acknowledge^(Y) your guilt—
    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favors to foreign gods^(Z)
    under every spreading tree,^(AA)
    and have not obeyed^(AB) me,’”
declares the Lord.

“‘How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,^(AQ)
    the most beautiful inheritance^(AR) of any nation.’
I thought you would call me ‘Father’^(AS)
    and not turn away from following me.
²⁰ But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful^(AT) to me,”
declares the Lord.

²¹ A cry is heard on the barren heights,^(AU)
    the weeping^(AV) and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
    and have forgotten^(AW) the Lord their God.

²² “Return,^(AX) faithless people;
    I will cure^(AY) you of backsliding.”^(AZ)

“Yes, we will come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
²³ Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills^(BA)
    and mountains is a deception;
surely in the Lord our God
    is the salvation^(BB) of Israel.
²⁴ From our youth shameful^(BC) gods have consumed
    the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—
their flocks and herds,
    their sons and daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,^(BD)
    and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned^(BE) against the Lord our God,
    both we and our ancestors;^(BF)
from our youth^(BG) till this day
    we have not obeyed^(BH) the Lord our God.”

4 “If you, Israel, will return,^(BI)
    then return to me,”
declares the Lord.
“If you put your detestable idols^(BJ) out of my sight
    and no longer go astray,
² and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
    you swear,^(BK) ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’^(BL)
then the nations will invoke blessings^(BM) by him
    and in him they will boast.^(BN)”

“Break up your unplowed ground^(BO)
    and do not sow among thorns.^(BP)
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
    circumcise your hearts,^(BQ)
    you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,
or my wrath^(BR) will flare up and burn like fire^(BS)
    because of the evil^(BT) you have done—
    burn with no one to quench^(BU) it.