From the days of your ancestors you have ignored my commandments and have not kept them! Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD who rules over all.“ But you say,‘ How should we return?’

万军之耶和华说：从你们列祖的日子以来，你们常常偏离我的典章而不遵守。现在你们要转向我，我就转向你们。你们却问说：‘我们如何才是转向呢？’

从你们祖先的日子以来，你们就偏离我的律例而不遵守。现在你们要转向我，我就转向你们。这是万军之耶和华说的。你们却说：‘我们如何转向呢？’

从你们祖先的日子以来，你们就偏离我的律例而不遵守。现在你们要转向我，我就转向你们。这是万军之耶和华说的。你们却说：‘我们如何转向呢？’

万军之耶和华说：“从你们祖先开始，你们就常常偏离我的律例，不肯遵从。现在你们要转向我，我就转向你们。可是你们竟然说，‘我们怎么转向你呢？’

“从你们列祖的日子以来，你们就偏离了我的律例而不遵守。现在你们要转向我，我就必转向你们。你们还问：‘我们要怎样回转呢？’

万军之耶和华说：“从你们祖先的日子以来，你们就偏离我的律例而不遵守。现在你们当转向我，我就转向你们！你们竟然问：‘我们怎样转向你呢？’

萬軍之耶和華說：從你們列祖的日子以來，你們常常偏離我的典章而不遵守。現在你們要轉向我，我就轉向你們。你們卻問說：『我們如何才是轉向呢？』

從你們祖先的日子以來，你們就偏離我的律例而不遵守。現在你們要轉向我，我就轉向你們。這是萬軍之耶和華說的。你們卻說：『我們如何轉向呢？』

從你們祖先的日子以來，你們就偏離我的律例而不遵守。現在你們要轉向我，我就轉向你們。這是萬軍之耶和華說的。你們卻說：『我們如何轉向呢？』

萬軍之耶和華說：「從你們祖先開始，你們就常常偏離我的律例，不肯遵從。現在你們要轉向我，我就轉向你們。可是你們竟然說，『我們怎麼轉向你呢？』

“從你們列祖的日子以來，你們就偏離了我的律例而不遵守。現在你們要轉向我，我就必轉向你們。你們還問：‘我們要怎樣回轉呢？’

萬軍之永恆主說：從你們列祖的日子以來，你們總偏離了我的律例、而不遵守。現在你們要轉向着我，我就轉向着你們。但你們卻還問說：「我們要在甚麼事上轉向呢？」

萬軍之耶和華說：「從你們祖先的日子以來，你們就偏離我的律例而不遵守。現在你們當轉向我，我就轉向你們！你們竟然問：『我們怎樣轉向你呢？』

萬軍之耶和華曰、自爾列祖之日、爾偏離我律例、而不守之、當返於我、我則返於爾、爾乃曰於何而返乎、

萬有之主耶和華曰、自列祖以來、爾背我法度、不遵我道、然爾歸誠於我、而我必復加眷顧、爾曰、若何為之歸誠、

萬有之主曰、自爾列祖之日以來、爾棄我律例而不守之、今當歸誠於我、則我必復眷顧爾、則我必復眷顧爾原文作則我必歸於爾爾曰、如何方為歸誠、

Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.“ But you ask,‘ How are we to return?’

You have turned away from my rules. You have not obeyed them. You have lived that way ever since the days of your people of long ago. Return to me. Then I will return to you,” says the Lord who rules over all.“ But you ask,‘ How can we return?’

From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say,‘ How shall we return?’

Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.“ But you ask,‘ How can we return when we have never gone away?’

“ Since the days of your ancestors, you have turned from my statutes; you have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. Yet you ask,“ How can we return?”

“ From the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of armies.“ But you say,‘ How shall we return?’

Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts.“ But you said,‘ In what way shall we return?’

From the days of your fathers ye have turned aside from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. But ye say, Wherein shall we return?

“ Since the days of your fathers, you have turned from My statutes; you have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Hosts. But you ask:“ How can we return?”

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept[ them]. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

From the days of your fathers you have turned away from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies.“ But you say,‘ How shall we return?’

Therefore say to the people: The LORD who rules over all says,“ Turn to me,” says the LORD who rules over all,“ and I will turn to you,” says the LORD who rules over all.

For after I have brought them to the land I promised to their ancestors– one flowing with milk and honey– and they eat their fill and become fat, then they will turn to other gods and worship them; they will reject me and break my covenant.

But about Israel he says,“ All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!”

However, when they confess their iniquity and their ancestors’ iniquity which they committed by trespassing against me, by which they also walked in hostility against me( and I myself will walk in hostility against them and bring them into the land of their enemies), and then their uncircumcised hearts become humbled and they make up for their iniquity,I will remember my covenant with Jacob and also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

Seek the LORD while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby!The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the LORD, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.

“ Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again.And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances– those by which an individual, if he obeys them, will live. They boldly turned from you; they rebelled and did not obey.You prolonged your kindness with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.

He was longing to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“ Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north. Tell them,‘ Come back to me, wayward Israel,’ says the LORD.‘ I will not continue to look on you with displeasure. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD.‘ I will not be angry with you forever.However, you must confess that you have done wrong, and that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree, and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the LORD.“ Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the LORD,“ for I am your true master. If you do, I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sin has been your downfall!

For ignoring the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking instead to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and make your hearts pure, you double- minded.

Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness. Say,‘ Here we are. We come to you because you are the LORD our God.

But if you seek the LORD your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul.In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, if you return to the LORD your God and obey him( for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them.

“ When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the LORD your God has banished you.Then if you and your descendants turn to the LORD your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today,the LORD your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you.Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back.

I spread out my hands all day long to my rebellious people, who lived in a way that is morally unacceptable, and who did what they desired.

“ But they– our ancestors– behaved presumptuously; they rebelled and did not obey your commandments.They refused to obey and did not recall your miracles that you had performed among them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to return to their bondage in Egypt. But you are a God of forgiveness, merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and unfailing in your loyal love. You did not abandon them,

Remember– don’t ever forget– how you provoked the LORD your God in the desert; from the time you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place you were constantly rebelling against him.At Horeb you provoked him and he was angry enough with you to destroy you.When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I remained there forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing.The LORD gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger of God, and on them was everything he said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly.Now at the end of the forty days and nights the LORD presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.And he said to me,“ Get up, go down at once from here because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have sinned! They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a cast metal image.”Moreover, he said to me,“ I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn lot!Stand aside and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”So I turned and went down the mountain while it was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.When I looked, you had indeed sinned against the LORD your God and had cast for yourselves a metal calf; you had quickly turned aside from the way he had commanded you!I grabbed the two tablets, threw them down, and shattered them before your very eyes.Then I again fell down before the LORD for forty days and nights; I ate and drank nothing because of all the sin you had committed, doing such evil before the LORD as to enrage him.For I was terrified at the LORD’s intense anger that threatened to destroy you. But he listened to me this time as well.The LORD was also angry enough at Aaron to kill him, but at that time I prayed for him too.As for your sinful thing that you had made, the calf, I took it, melted it down, ground it up until it was as fine as dust, and tossed the dust into the stream that flows down the mountain.

“ Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean.

“ You have criticized me sharply,” says the LORD,“ but you ask,‘ How have we criticized you?’

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations( the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them.

Please recall the word you commanded your servant Moses:‘ If you act unfaithfully, I will scatter you among the nations.But if you repent and obey my commandments and do them, then even if your dispersed people are in the most remote location, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen for my name to reside.’

When your people come to their senses in the land where they are held prisoner, they will repent and beg for your mercy in the land of their imprisonment, admitting,‘ We have sinned and gone astray; we have done evil.’When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner, and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor,then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them.

I brought them to the land which I swore to give them, but whenever they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there and presented the offerings that provoke me to anger. They offered their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings.

“ A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects his master. If I am your father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The LORD who rules over all asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply,‘ How have we made light of your name?’

“ Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies.

So you testify that you approve of the deeds of your ancestors, because they killed the prophets and you build their tombs!For this reason also the wisdom of God said,‘ I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.

Then they will not be like their ancestors, who were a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that was not committed and faithful to God.The Ephraimites were armed with bows, but they retreated in the day of battle.They did not keep their covenant with God, and they refused to obey his law.

for I know about your rebellion and stubbornness. Indeed, even while I have been living among you to this very day, you have rebelled against the LORD; you will be even more rebellious after my death!Gather to me all your tribal elders and officials so I can speak to them directly about these things and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them.For I know that after I die you will totally corrupt yourselves and turn away from the path I have commanded you to walk. Disaster will confront you in the days to come because you will act wickedly before the LORD, inciting him to anger because of your actions.”

“‘ But the children rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out( the one who obeys them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness.

But they rebelled against me, and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols, nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

“ Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign LORD. Repent and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity.Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why should you die, O house of Israel?For I take no delight in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.’”

“ You stubborn people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, like your ancestors did!Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute? They killed those who foretold long ago the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become!

And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive