He told me to go and say to Israel, "Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you forever.

(SEE 7:1)

and to go through Potsherd Gate out to Hinnom Valley. There I was to proclaim the message that he would give me.

The LORD says, "Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins!

This is what the LORD said through the earlier prophets at the time when Jerusalem was prosperous and filled with people and when there were many people living not only in the towns around the city but also in the southern region and in the western foothills.

"Listen to the terms of the covenant. Tell the people of Judah and of Jerusalem

It is the covenant I made with their ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, the land that was like a blazing furnace to them. I told them to obey me and to do everything that I had commanded. I told them that if they obeyed, they would be my people and I would be their God.

They make loans without charging interest and cannot be bribed to testify against the innocent. Whoever does these things will always be secure.

Now that you know this truth, how happy you will be if you put it into practice!

For it is not by hearing the Law that people are put right with God, but by doing what the Law commands.

Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to his word; instead, put it into practice.