In place of the last clause ["But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the Lord."] the true Hebrew text (which is not preserved in the Greek and Latin versions) gives the following: "you have forsaken me, yet return, and I will receive you, says the Lord." Isaiah also speaking in the same sense uses almost the same words: "Return," he cries, "O children of Israel, you who devise a deep and sinful counsel. Return to me, and I will redeem you. I am God, and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is nothing beside me. Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth." Remember this and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O you transgressors. Return in heart and remember the former things of old: for I am God and there is none else."
(Verse 6 onwards) Return, as you have deeply strayed, O children of Israel. For on that day a man will cast away the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold, which your own hands have made for yourselves to sin. And Assur will fall by the sword, not of a man; and a sword, not of a human, will devour him. He will flee not from the face of the sword, and his young men will become forced labor. His strength will pass away in terror, and his fleeing princes will be filled with fear, says the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem. LXX: Return, O children of Israel, as you have gone deep into sin. For on that day every man will throw away the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold that your own hands have made for your own sins. And Assyria will fall by the sword, not of a man, and a sword, not of a human, will devour him; he will flee, but not from the face of the sword; his young men will be defeated; they will be surrounded like a wall, and they will be conquered; but whoever flees will be captured. Thus says the Lord: Blessed is he who has offspring in Zion and who has a household in Jerusalem. While the Lord fights against his adversaries on Mount Zion and protects it like a rampart, O children of Israel, turn back! As Symmachus translated it: Repent, you who have strayed from the Lord due to deep counsel and sin. For if you do this, casting aside the golden and silver idols that have been a cause of sin for you, because of which your city was captured, Assyria will fall, from whose fear you now flee, not by the sword of men or the strength of an army, but by the power of God. But it signifies that an angel, by whom 185,000 Assyrians were destroyed in one night. Also, the Assyrian king himself will not flee from the sword of men, but from the wrath of God, so that his young and strong men will become tributaries to the Medes, of whom it is said above, in opposition to Babylon: Behold, I will raise up the Medes against you. And the might of Assyria will pass by with the terror of the Lord, and all its princes will tremble. For the Lord has spoken and promised, and what He has said, He has done: and He who has fire in Zion and a furnace in Jerusalem, so that He may consume His adversaries like straw and wood coming out of Jerusalem. Another thing that is said: On that day, a man will throw away his idols of silver and the…
