⁷ And My people are hanging in suspense, about My returning, And unto the Most High they do call, Together they exalt not.

⁵ Wherefore hath this people of Jerusalem Turned back -- a perpetual backsliding? They have kept hold on deceit, They have refused to turn back.

⁴ For thus said Jehovah to the house of Israel: Seek ye Me, and live,

⁵ And seek not Beth-El, and Gilgal enter not, And Beer-Sheba pass not through, For Gilgal doth utterly remove, And Beth-El doth become vanity.

⁶ Seek ye Jehovah, and live, Lest He prosper as fire `against' the house of Joseph, And it hath consumed, And there is no quencher for Beth-El.

⁴ I heal their backsliding, I love them freely, For turned back hath Mine anger from him.

² They have called to them rightly, They have gone from before them, To lords they do sacrifice, And to graven images they make perfume.

¹⁶ They turn back -- not to the Most High, They have been as a deceitful bow, Fall by sword do their princes, From the insolence of their tongue, This `is' their derision in the land of Egypt!

¹⁴ From his ways is the backslider in heart filled, And a good man -- from his fruits.

¹¹ But, My people hearkened not to My voice, And Israel hath not consented to Me.

⁵⁷ And they turn back, And deal treacherously like their fathers, They have been turned like a deceitful bow,

⁵⁸ And make Him angry with their high places, And with their graven images make Him zealous,

¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live, And it is so; Jehovah, God of Hosts, `is' with you, as ye said.

¹⁵ Hate evil, and love good, And set up judgment in the gate, It may be Jehovah, God of Hosts, doth pity the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ For as a refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.

⁷ Surely our iniquities have testified against us, O Jehovah, work for Thy name's sake, For many have been our backslidings, Against Thee we have sinned.

¹¹ And Jehovah saith unto me: `Justified herself hath backsliding Israel, More than treacherous Judah.

⁶ And Jehovah saith unto me, in the days of Josiah the king, `Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is going on every high mountain, and unto the place of every green tree, and committeth fornication there.

⁷ And I say, after her doing all these, Unto Me thou dost turn back, and she hath not turned back, and see `it' doth her treacherous sister Judah.

⁸ And I see when (for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery) I have sent her away, and I give the bill of her divorce unto her, that treacherous Judah her sister hath not feared, and goeth and committeth fornication -- she also.

¹ And Hezekiah sendeth unto all Israel and Judah, and also letters he hath written unto Ephraim and Manasseh, to come in to the house of Jehovah in Jerusalem, to make a passover to Jehovah, God of Israel.

² And the king taketh counsel, and his heads, and all the assembly in Jerusalem, to make the passover in the second month,

³ for they have not been able to make it at that time, for the priests have not sanctified themselves sufficiently, and the people have not been gathered to Jerusalem.

⁴ And the thing is right in the eyes of the king, and in the eyes of all the assembly,

⁵ and they establish the thing, to cause to pass over an intimation into all Israel, from Beer-Sheba even unto Dan, to come in to make a passover to Jehovah, God of Israel, in Jerusalem, for not for a long time had they done as it is written.

⁶ And the runners go with letters from the hand of the king and his heads, into all Israel and Judah, even according to the command of the king, saying, `O sons of Israel, turn back unto Jehovah, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and He doth turn back unto the escaped part that is left of you from the hand of the kings of Asshur;

⁷ and do not be like your fathers, and like your brethren, who trespassed against Jehovah, God of their fathers, and He giveth them to desolation, as ye do see.

⁸ `Now, harden not your neck like your fathers, give a hand to Jehovah, and come in to His sanctuary, that He hath sanctified to the age, and serve Jehovah your God, and the fierceness of His anger doth turn back from you;

⁹ for in your turning back unto Jehovah, your brethren and your sons have mercies before their captors, even to return to this land, for gracious and merciful `is' Jehovah your God, and He doth not turn aside the face from you, if ye turn back unto Him.'

¹⁰ And the runners are passing over from city to city, in the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, even unto Zebulun: and they are laughing at them, and mocking at them,

¹¹ only, certain from Asher, and Manasseh, and from Zebulun, have been humbled, and come in to Jerusalem.