"But your descendants will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors, who resisted me and rebelled against me,

and caused me to turn against them and send them into exile in the land of their enemies. At last, when your descendants are humbled and they have paid the penalty for their sin and rebellion,

There you will look for the LORD your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.

He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.

"I have now given you a choice between a blessing and a curse. When all these things have happened to you, and you are living among the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you, you will remember the choice I gave you.

then the LORD your God will have mercy on you. He will bring you back from the nations where he has scattered you, and he will make you prosperous again.

By the rivers of Babylon we sat down; there we wept when we remembered Zion.

The LORD says to his people in Babylonia: "You have escaped death! Now go! Don't wait! Though you are far from home, think about me, your LORD, and remember Jerusalem.

In the first year of his reign I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the LORD had told the prophet Jeremiah.

And I prayed earnestly to the Lord God, pleading with him, fasting, wearing sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.

Though I have scattered them among the nations, yet in far-off places they will remember me. They and their children will survive and return home together.

"You will feel all the force of my anger and rage until I am satisfied. When all this happens, you will be convinced that I, the LORD, have spoken to you because I am outraged at your unfaithfulness.

You have forgotten how I treated you when you were young, and you have made me angry by all the things you did. That is why I have made you pay for them all. Why did you add sexual immorality to all the other disgusting things you did?" The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how many times they made him sad!

How often they rebelled against him in the desert; how many times they made him sad!

To that Isaiah replied, "Listen, now, descendants of King David. It's bad enough for you to wear out the patience of people---do you have to wear out God's patience too?

You didn't buy incense for me or satisfy me with the fat of your animals. Instead you burdened me with your sins; you wore me out with the wrongs you have committed.

but they rebelled against him and made his holy spirit sad. So the LORD became their enemy and fought against them.

When Josiah was king, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what Israel, that unfaithful woman, has done? She has turned away from me, and on every high hill and under every green tree she has acted like a prostitute.

Only admit that you are guilty and that you have rebelled against the LORD, your God. Confess that under every green tree you have given your love to foreign gods and that you have not obeyed my commands. I, the LORD, have spoken.

And now I will crush you to the ground, and you will groan like a cart loaded with grain.

"Now speak to them and tell them what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to them: Each of you Israelites who have given your heart to idols and let them lead you into sin and who then come to consult a prophet, will get an answer from me---the answer that your many idols deserve!

"Now then, tell the Israelites what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying: Turn back and leave your disgusting idols.

I told them to throw away the disgusting idols they loved and not to make themselves unclean with the false gods of Egypt, because I am the LORD their God.

I did this because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, profaned the Sabbath, and worshiped the same idols their ancestors had served.

I brought them to the land I had promised to give them. When they saw the high hills and green trees, they offered sacrifices at all of them. They made me angry by the sacrifices they burned and by the wine they brought as offerings.

"She sank deeper and deeper in her immorality. She was attracted by the images of high Babylonian officials carved into the wall and painted bright red, with sashes around their waists and fancy turbans on their heads.

As soon as she saw them, she was filled with lust and sent messengers to them in Babylonia.

The tassels will serve as reminders, and each time you see them you will remember all my commands and obey them; then you will not turn away from me and follow your own wishes and desires.

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Emperor Tiglath Pileser, he saw the altar there and sent back to Uriah the priest an exact model of it, down to the smallest details.

They want to look for nothing but the chance to commit adultery; their appetite for sin is never satisfied. They lead weak people into a trap. Their hearts are trained to be greedy. They are under God's curse!

Some will escape to the mountains like doves frightened from the valleys. All of them will moan over their sins.

I will let a few of them survive the war, the famine, and the diseases, so that there among the nations they will realize how disgusting their actions have been and will acknowledge that I am the LORD."

I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

Then you will remember all the disgraceful things you did and how you defiled yourselves. You will be disgusted with yourselves because of all the evil things you did.

You will remember your evil conduct and the wrongs that you committed, and you will be disgusted with yourselves because of your sins and your iniquities.

Israel, I want you to know that I am not doing all this for your sake. I want you to feel the shame and disgrace of what you are doing. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

The few of you who survive in the land of your enemies will waste away because of your own sin and the sin of your ancestors.

So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes.

All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through. Because of our sins we are like leaves that wither and are blown away by the wind.

The LORD says, "I will restore my people to their land and have mercy on every family; Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and its palace restored.

The people who live there will sing praise; they will shout for joy. By my blessing they will increase in numbers; my blessing will bring them honor.