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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Jeremiah 3
3
Jeremiah 3
1¶ They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, shall he return unto her again? Is she not a land that is now completely polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, said the Lord.
2Lift up thine eyes unto the high places and see if there is anywhere thou hast not been ravished. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3Therefore the rain has been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and thou dost have a whore’s forehead, thou dost refuse to be ashamed.
4Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
5Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done as many evil things as thou could.
6¶ The Lord said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which rebellious Israel has done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.
7And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she did not return. And her rebellious sister Judah saw it.
8And I saw when for all the causes by which rebellious Israel committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorce; yet her rebellious sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.
9And it came to pass through her judging her whoredom to be a light thing that the land became defiled and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10And yet for all this her rebellious sister Judah has never turned unto me with her whole heart, but untruthfully, said the Lord.
11And the Lord said unto me, The rebellious Israel has justified her soul in comparison to the treacherous Judah.
12¶ Go and proclaim these words toward the north wind and say, Return, thou rebellious Israel, said the Lord and I will not cause my anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, said the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever.
13Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast rebelled against the Lord thy God and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not heard my voice, said the Lord.
14Turn, O rebellious sons, said the Lord; for I am your Lord, and I will take you one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
15And I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land; in those days, said the Lord, they shall no longer say, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the Gentiles shall congregate unto it in the name of the Lord in Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the hardness of their evil heart.
18In those times they shall go out from the house of Judah unto the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north wind to the land which I caused your fathers to inherit.
19But I said, How shall I place thee as sons and give thee the desirable land, the heritage that the hosts of Gentiles desire? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father, and shalt not turn away from following me.
20¶ Surely as the woman breaks the faith of her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, said the Lord.
21A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping of the supplications of the sons of Israel; for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22Return, ye rebellious sons, and I will heal your rebellion. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.
23Truly the hills are vanity, the multitude of mountains; truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
24For shame has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not hearkened unto the voice of the Lord our God.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International