Jeremias 3

1 *See Deut. 24:1-4"If*3:1 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew Saying, "If a man divorces his wife

and she goes from him

and becomes another man’s wife,

will he return to her?

*ver. 9;Ps. 106:38Would not that land be greatly polluted?

*ch. 2:20You have played the whore with many lovers;

and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.

2 Lift up your eyes to *ver. 21, 23;ch. 4:11;7:29;Num. 23:3the bare heights, and see!

Where have you not been ravished?

*Ezek. 16:25By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers

like an Arab in the wilderness.

*[See ver. 1above]You have polluted the land

with your vile whoredom.

3 *ch. 9:12;14:22;Deut. 28:24Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and the spring rain has not come;

yet you have *[ch. 6:15]; See Ezek. 3:7, 8the forehead of a whore;

you refuse to be ashamed.

4 Have you not just now *[Luke 15:18]called to me,

‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—

5 *Ps. 103:9will he be angry forever,

will he be indignant to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken,

but you have done all the evil that you could."

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

6 The Lord said to me in the days of *ch. 1:2King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, *See ch. 2:20how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there *[See ver. 1above]played the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous *[Ezek. 16:46;23:4]sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, *2 Kgs. 17:18;[Hos. 1:6,9] I had sent her away with *[Matt. 19:7;Mark 10:4]; See Deut. 24:1-4a decree of divorce. *Ezek. 23:11Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went *[See ver. 1above]and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with *ch. 2:27stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me *Hos. 7:14with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord."

11 And the Lord said to me, *Ezek. 16:51,52"Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward *See ver. 18the north, and say,

*Prov. 28:13;See Deut. 30:1-10"‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.

I will not look on you in anger,

for *Ps. 86:5,15I am merciful,

declares the Lord;

*Ps. 103:9I will not be angry forever.

13 *Lev. 26:40Only acknowledge your guilt,

that you rebelled against the Lord your God

and scattered your favors among foreigners under *ver. 6every green tree,

and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

14 *ver. 22;Hos. 14:1Return, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;

*Isa. 54:5;62:5;Hos. 2:19,20;Mal. 2:11for I am your master;

I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,

and I will bring you to Zion.

15 "‘And *ch. 23:4;Ezek. 34:23;[John 10:11] I will give you shepherds after my own heart, *Acts 20:28who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the Lord." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, *Isa. 2:2,3and all nations shall gather to it, *Isa. 60:9to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 *ch. 50:4;Isa. 11:13;Ezek. 37:21,22;Hos. 1:11In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land *ver. 12;ch. 16:15;23:8;31:8of the north to *Amos 9:15the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19 "‘I said,

How I would set you among my sons,

and give you a pleasant land,

a heritage most beautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would *[Isa. 63:16]call me, My Father,

and would not turn from following me.

20 *ver. 7, 8;ch. 5:11Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,

so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’"

21 A voice on the *See ver. 2bare heights is heard,

*ch. 31:9the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons

because they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God.

22 *ver. 14"Return, O faithless sons;

*ch. 30:17;Isa. 57:18;Hos. 6:1I will heal your faithlessness."

"Behold, we come to you,

for you are the Lord our God.

23 Truly *ver. 21;[Ps. 121:1,2] the hills are a delusion,

the orgies*3:23 Hebrew commotion on the mountains.

*Ps. 3:8Truly in the Lord our God

is the salvation of Israel.

24 "But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 *Ezra 9:6;Job 8:22Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For *Ezra 9:7;Ezek. 2:3we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."