Jeremiah 3
3
1“If a man divorces a woman
and she goes and marries someone else,
he will not take her back again,
for that would surely corrupt the land.
But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
so why are you trying to come back to me?”
says the Lord.
2“Look at the shrines on every hilltop.
Is there any place you have not been defiled
by your adultery with other gods?
You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.
You sit alone like a nomad in the desert.
You have polluted the land with your prostitution
and your wickedness.
3That’s why even the spring rains have failed.
For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.
4Yet you say to me,
‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.
5Surely you won’t be angry forever!
Surely you can forget about it!’
So you talk,
but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”
Judah Follows Israel’s Example
6During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. 8She saw#3:8 As in Dead Sea Scrolls, one Greek manuscript, and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads I saw. that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. 9Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. 10But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Hope for Wayward Israel
11Then the Lord said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! 12Therefore, go and give this message to Israel.#3:12 Hebrew toward the north. This is what the Lord says:
“O Israel, my faithless people,
come home to me again,
for I am merciful.
I will not be angry with you forever.
13Only acknowledge your guilt.
Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and committed adultery against him
by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
14“Return home, you wayward children,”
says the Lord,
“for I am your master.
I will bring you back to the land of Israel#3:14 Hebrew to Zion.—
one from this town and two from that family—
from wherever you are scattered.
15And I will give you shepherds after my own heart,
who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.
16“And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the Lord, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. 17In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the Lord.’ All nations will come there to honor the Lord. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. 18In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever.
19“I thought to myself,
‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’
I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land—
the finest possession in the world.
I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’
and I wanted you never to turn from me.
20But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel!
You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.
I, the Lord, have spoken.”
21Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains,
the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people.
For they have chosen crooked paths
and have forgotten the Lord their God.
22“My wayward children,” says the Lord,
“come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”
“Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply,
“for you are the Lord our God.
23Our worship of idols on the hills
and our religious orgies on the mountains
are a delusion.
Only in the Lord our God
will Israel ever find salvation.
24From childhood we have watched
as everything our ancestors worked for—
their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—
was squandered on a delusion.
25Let us now lie down in shame
and cover ourselves with dishonor,
for we and our ancestors have sinned
against the Lord our God.
From our childhood to this day
we have never obeyed him.”
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Jeremiah 3: NLT
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
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Jeremias (Jeremiah) 3
3
1It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? Shall not that woman be polluted and defiled? But thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers. Nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee.
2Lift up thy eyes on high, and see where thou hast not prostuted thyself. Thou didst sit in the ways, waiting for them as a robber in the wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications and with thy wickedness.
3Therefore the showers were withholden, and there was no lateward rain: thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou wouldst not blush.
4Therefore, at least from this time call to me: Thou art my father, the guide of my virginity:
5Wilt thou be angry for ever, or wilt thou continue until the end? Behold, thou hast spoken, and hast done evil things, and hast been able.
6And the Lord said to me in the days of king Josias: Hast thou seen what rebellious Israel hast done? She hath gone out of herself upon every high mountain and under every green tree and hath played the harlot there.
7And when she had done all these things, I said: Return to me. And she did not return. And her treacherous sister Juda saw,
8That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had put her away and had given her a bill of divorce: yet her treacherous sister Juda was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself.
9And by the facility of her fornication she defiled the land and played the harlot with stones and with stocks.
10And after all this, her treacherous sister Juda hath not returned to me with her whole heart, but with falsehood, saith the Lord.
11And the Lord said to me: The rebellious Israel hath justified her soul, in comparison of the treacherous Juda.
12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north. And thou shalt say: Return, O rebellious Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not turn away my face from you: for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I will not be angry for ever.
13But yet acknowledge thy iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God: and thou hast scattered thy ways to strangers under every green tree, and hast not heard my voice, saith the Lord.
14Return, O ye revolting children, saith the Lord: for I am your husband: and I will take you, one of a city, and two of a kindred, and will bring you into Sion.
15And I will give you pastors according to my own heart: and they shall feed you with knowledge and doctrine.
16And when you shall be multiplied and increase in the land in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more: The ark of the covenant of the Lord. Neither shall it come upon the heart, neither shall they remember it, neither shall it be visited, neither shall that be done any more.
17At that time Jerusalem shall be called the Throne of the Lord: and all the nations shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem, and they shall not walk after the perversity of their most wicked heart.
18In those days the house of Juda shall go to the house of Israel: and they shall come together out of the land of the north, to the land which I gave to your fathers.
19But I said: How shall I put thee among the children and give thee a lovely land, the goodly inheritance of the armies of the Gentiles? And I said: Thou shalt call me father and shalt cease to walk after me.
20But as a woman that despiseth her lover, so hath the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord.
21A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22Return, you rebellious children, and I will heal your rebellions. Behold, we come to thee: for thou art the Lord our God.
23In very deed the hills were liars, and the multitude of the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24Confusion hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25We shall sleep in our confusion, and our shame shall cover us, because we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth even to this day: and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.