"I will abandon my people until they have suffered enough for their sins and come looking for me. Perhaps in their suffering they will try to find me."

Return to the LORD your God, people of Israel. Your sin has made you stumble and fall.

and their people will say, "Let us go up the hill of the LORD, to the Temple of Israel's God. He will teach us what he wants us to do; we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the LORD's teaching comes from Jerusalem; from Zion he speaks to his people."

Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the LORD, our God; he is merciful and quick to forgive.

Return, all of you who have turned away from the LORD; he will heal you and make you faithful. You say, "Yes, we are coming to the LORD because he is our God.

The LORD says, "When that time comes, the people of both Israel and Judah will come weeping, looking for me, their God.

Let us examine our ways and turn back to the LORD.

Let us open our hearts to God in heaven and pray,

Shameless nation, come to your senses

I will bring destruction on Israel and ruin on the people of Judah.

I will attack the people of Israel and Judah like a lion. I myself will tear them to pieces and then leave them. When I drag them off, no one will be able to save them.

So I will attack you like a lion. Like a leopard I will lie in wait along your path.

"I will destroy you, people of Israel! Then who can help you?

" 'I, and I alone, am God; no other god is real. I kill and I give life, I wound and I heal, and no one can oppose what I do.

The LORD kills and restores to life; he sends people to the world of the dead and brings them back again.

God bandages the wounds he makes; his hand hurts you, and his hand heals.

If God decided to do nothing at all, no one could criticize him. If he hid his face, we would be helpless.

You were good to me, LORD; you protected me like a mountain fortress. But then you hid yourself from me, and I was afraid.

You will take your idols plated with silver and your idols covered with gold, and will throw them away like filth, shouting, "Out of my sight!"

The LORD says to his people, "Your wounds are incurable, your injuries cannot be healed.

Some will fight against the Babylonians, who will fill the houses with the corpses of those whom I am going to strike down in my anger and fury. I have turned away from this city because of the evil things that its people have done.

He may bring us sorrow, but his love for us is sure and strong.

He takes no pleasure in causing us grief or pain.