19 Remember this, my dear friends: everyone should be quick to listen but slow to speak, and slow to get angry,

1 A kind reply wards off anger, but hurtful words make people mad.

29 If you're slow to get angry, you're very wise; but if you have a short fuse you glorify stupidity.

11 Stupid people let all their anger out, while wise people quietly hold it in.

16 Stupid people get angry immediately, but if you're sensible you ignore an insult.

26 Don't sin by getting angry; don't let evening come and find you still mad— 27 and don't give the devil any opportunity.

3 Avoiding conflict is the proper thing to do, but stupid people are quick to argue.

10 Pride only causes conflict; but those who take advice are wise.

12 Hatred causes conflict, but love covers all wrongs.

4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not boastful. Love is not proud. 5 Love does not act improperly, or insist on having its own way. Love is not argumentative and doesn't keep a record of wrongs.

17 Don't hold onto hateful feelings towards others. Talk honestly with your neighbors, so that you don't sin because of them. 18 Don't look for revenge or hold a grudge against anybody, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

20 It's what comes out of you that makes you unclean. 21 It's from the inside, from people's minds, that evil thoughts come: sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, thoughtlessness— 23 all these evils come from inside and defile people."

12 Brothers and sisters, make sure that none of you has an evil mindset that's given up trusting in the God of life.

1 If a man divorces his wife and she goes and marries someone else, could he ever go back to her? Wouldn't the country be made totally unclean by this? But you have done worse by prostituting yourselves with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me? declares the Lord.

2 Look up at the bare hilltops. Is there anywhere that you haven't had sex? You sat at the roadside like someone from the desert waiting for your lovers to pass by. You have made the land unclean with your prostitution and evil. 3 That's why no showers have been sent, and no spring rains have fallen. But you just stare back shamelessly like a prostitute; you refuse to accept you've done anything wrong.

4 Didn't you just tell me, "My father, you've been such a close friend to me since I was little. 5 You won't be angry with me for a long time, will you? You won't go on being like that forever?" This is what you've said, but you keep on sinning as much as you can.

6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord told me, Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has prostituted herself on every high hill and under every green tree. 7 I hoped that after she'd done all this she'd come back to me. But she didn't come back, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw what happened. 8 She* saw that because of everything unfaithful Israel had done on committing adultery, I sent her away, giving her a certificate of divorce. But her unfaithful sister Judah wasn't afraid and prostituted herself too. 9 Israel didn't care about the immorality, as she made herself and the land unclean, committing adultery by worshiping stones and trees. 10 Despite all this, her unfaithful sister Judah didn't come back to me in sincerity. She only pretended to do so, declares the Lord.

11 The Lord told me, Unfaithful Israel showed that she wasn't as guilty as unfaithful Judah. 12 Now go and announce this message to the north:* Come back, unfaithful Israel, declares the Lord. I won't be angry with you anymore, because I am merciful, declares the Lord. I won't be angry forever. 13 Just admit you did wrong, that you rebelled against the Lord your God. You spread yourself around, committing adultery by worshiping foreign gods under every green tree, refusing to do what I told you, declares the Lord.

14 Come back, unfaithful children, declares the Lord, because I am married to you. I will take you, one from a town and two from a family, and bring you to Zion. 15 I will give you shepherds who are like me who will feed you wisely and with understanding.

16 At that time as you increase in number in the country, declares the Lord, no one will be talking about the Ark of the Lord's Agreement anymore. People won't need to think about it or remember it or wonder what happened to it; and certainly won't need to make a new one.

17 When that time comes Jerusalem will be called the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations will come together in Jerusalem to honor the Lord. They won't be stubborn or wicked anymore.

18 At that time the people of Judah will join with the people of Israel, and they will return from the land of the north to the country I gave to your forefathers to own. 19 I said to myself, I really want you to be my children, and to give you the best country, the most beautiful place of any nation. I hoped you would call me "Father," and never give up following me. 20 But just like a wife might betray her husband, you have betrayed me, people of Israel, declares the Lord.

21 Voices are crying on bare hilltops—the Israelites weeping and pleading for mercy, because they have gone astray and forgotten the Lord their God.

22 Come back, unfaithful children, and I will heal your unfaithfulness.

"We're here! Yes, we're coming back to you, because you are the Lord our God."

23 There's no doubt that pagan worship from the hills is pure lies; the idolatry that comes from the mountains is just noise.* Israel's salvation is in the Lord our God alone.

24 All our lives pagan idolatry has destroyed what our fathers worked so hard for: their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.

25 We should lie down in shame, and have our disgrace bury us. We have sinned against the Lord our God, us and our fathers. From when we were young right up to now we have not obeyed what the Lord our God told us to do.