19 Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.
20 But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
21 A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.
22 “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
23 Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
24 From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for—their flocks and herds, their sons and 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 our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”