Jeremiah 3
3
Sin and shame
1The LORD said to the people of Israel:
If a divorced woman marries,
can her first husband
ever marry her again?
No, because this
would pollute the land.
But you have more gods
than a prostitute has lovers.
Why should I take you back?
2Just try to find one hilltop
where you haven't gone
to worship other gods
by having sex.#3.2 hilltop…sex: See the note at 2.20.
You sat beside the road
like a robber in ambush,
except you offered yourself
to every passer-by.
Your sins of unfaithfulness
have polluted the land.
3So I, the LORD, refused
to let the spring rains fall.
But just like a prostitute,
you still have no shame
for what you have done.
4You call me your father
or your long-lost friend;
5you beg me to stop being angry,
but you won't stop sinning.
The LORD asks Israel to come back to him
6When Josiah#3.6 Josiah: Ruled 640-609 BC. was king, the LORD said:#2 K 22.1—23.30; 2 Ch 34.1—35.27.
Jeremiah, the kingdom of Israel#3.6 Israel: The northern kingdom (see the note at 2.4). was like an unfaithful wife who became a prostitute on the hilltops and in the shade of large trees.#3.6 prostitute…trees: See the note at 2.20. 7-8I knew that the kingdom of Israel had been unfaithful and committed many sins, yet I still hoped she might come back to me. But she didn't, so I divorced her and sent her away.
Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn't worried in the least, and I watched her become unfaithful like her sister. 9The kingdom of Judah wasn't sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn't care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshipping idols of stone and wood. 10And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. 11Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend.
12Jeremiah, shout towards the north:
Israel, I am your LORD—
come back to me!
You were unfaithful
and made me furious,
but I am merciful,
and so I will forgive you.
13Just admit that you rebelled
and worshipped foreign gods
under large trees everywhere.
14You are unfaithful children,
but you belong to me.
Come home!
I'll take one or two of you
from each town and clan
and bring you to Zion.
15Then I'll appoint wise rulers
who will obey me,
and they will care for you
like shepherds.
16You will increase in numbers,
and there will be no need
to remember the sacred chest
or to make a new one.#3.16 make a new one: The sacred chest was probably destroyed or taken away by the Babylonians when they captured Jerusalem in 586 BC.
17The whole city of Jerusalem
will be my throne.#3.16,17 sacred chest…throne: The sacred chest was thought to be God's throne on earth.
All nations will come here
to worship me,
and they will no longer follow
their stubborn, evil hearts.
18Then, in countries to the north,
you people of Judah and Israel
will be reunited,
and you will return to the land
I gave your ancestors.
19I have always wanted
to treat you as my children
and give you the best land,
the most beautiful on earth.
I wanted you to call me “Father”
and not turn from me.
20But instead, you are like a wife
who broke her wedding vows.
You have been unfaithful to me.
I, the LORD, have spoken.
The people confess their sins
The LORD said:
21Listen to the noise
on the hilltops!
It's the people of Israel,
weeping and begging me
to answer their prayers.
They forgot about me
and chose the wrong path.
22I will tell them, “Come back,
and I will cure you
of your unfaithfulness.”
They will answer,
“We will come back, because you
are the LORD our God.
23On hilltops, we worshipped idols
and made loud noises,
but it was all for nothing—
only you can save us.
24Since the days of our ancestors
when our nation was young,
that shameful god Baal#3.24 that shameful god Baal: The Hebrew text has “The Shame”, which was sometimes used as a way of making fun of the Canaanite god Baal. has taken
our crops and livestock,
our sons and daughters.
25We have rebelled against you
just like our ancestors,
and we are ashamed of our sins.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
Jeremiah 3
3
1“If a man divorces his wife and she goes and marries someone else,
the first husband cannot take her back.
If he did,#3:1 If he did It was against the Law of Moses for a man to marry a woman he had divorced if that woman had become another man’s wife. See Deut. 24:1-4. it would make the land unclean.
Judah, you and all your false gods are like a prostitute with many lovers!
So why do you think you can come back to me?”
This message is from the Lord.
2“Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.
Is there any place where you have not had sex with your lovers?
You sat by the road waiting for lovers,
like an Arab in the desert.
You made the land ‘dirty’
with all the evil sins you did
when you were unfaithful to me.
3You sinned, so the rain has not come.
There has not been any springtime rains.
But still you refuse to be ashamed.
The look on your face is like that of a prostitute who refuses to be ashamed.
4But didn’t you just call me ‘Father’?
Didn’t you say, ‘You have been my friend since I was a child’?
5You also said, ‘God will not always be angry with me.
His anger will not continue forever.’
“Judah, you say that,
but you do as much evil as you can.”
The Two Bad Sisters: Israel and Judah
6The Lord spoke to me during the time King Josiah was ruling the nation of Judah. He said, “Jeremiah, you saw the bad things Israel#3:6 Israel Here, the name Israel means the northern kingdom of Israel. Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians about 100 years before Jeremiah’s time. did! You saw how she was unfaithful to me. She was unfaithful to me with every idol on every hill and under every green tree. 7I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she has finished doing these evil things.’ But she did not come back to me. And Israel’s unfaithful sister, Judah, saw what she did. 8Israel was unfaithful, and she knew why I sent her away. Israel knew that I divorced her because she committed the sin of adultery. But that did not make her unfaithful sister afraid. Judah was not afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute. 9Judah did not care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country ‘dirty.’ She committed the sin of adultery by worshiping idols made out of stone and wood. 10Israel’s unfaithful sister did not come back to me with her whole heart. She only pretended that she came back to me.” This message is from the Lord.
11The Lord said to me, “Israel was not faithful to me, but she had a better excuse than unfaithful Judah. 12Jeremiah, look toward the north and speak this message:
“‘Come back, you faithless people of Israel.’
This message is from the Lord.
‘I will stop frowning at you.
I am full of mercy.’
The Lord says, ‘I will not be angry with you forever.
13But you must recognize your sin.
You turned against the Lord your God.
That is your sin.
You worshiped the idols of other nations.
You worshiped them under every green tree.
You did not obey me.’”
This message is from the Lord.
14The Lord says, “You people are unfaithful, but come back to me because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two people from every family and bring you to Zion. 15Then I will give you new rulers who will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16In those days there will be many of you in the land.” This message is from the Lord.
“At that time people will never again say, ‘I remember the days when we had the Box of the Lord’s Agreement.’ They will not even think about the Holy Box anymore. They will not even remember or miss it. They will never make another Holy Box. 17At that time the city of Jerusalem will be called the ‘Lord’s Throne.’ All nations will come together in the city of Jerusalem to give honor to the name of the Lord. They will not follow their stubborn, evil hearts anymore. 18In those days the family of Judah will join the family of Israel. They will come together from a land in the north to the land I gave to their ancestors.”
19-20This message is from the Lord:
“I want to treat you like my own children.
I want to give you a pleasant land,
a land more beautiful than any other nation.
I thought you would call me ‘Father.’
I thought you would always follow me.
But you have been unfaithful to me, family of Israel!
You have been like an unfaithful wife who leaves her husband.
21You can hear crying on the bare hills.
The people of Israel are crying and praying for mercy.
They became very evil.
They forgot the Lord their God.
22“People of Israel, you are unfaithful to me, but come back to me.
Come back and I will forgive#3:22 forgive Literally, “heal.” you for being unfaithful.
“Just say, ‘Yes, we will come back,
because you are the Lord our God.
23It was foolish to worship idols on the hills.
All the loud parties on the mountains were wrong.
Surely the salvation of Israel
comes from the Lord our God.
24That terrible false god Baal has eaten everything our fathers owned.
This has happened since we were children.
That terrible false god took our fathers’ sheep and cattle
and their sons and daughters.
25Let us lie down in our shame.
Let our shame cover us like a blanket.
We have sinned against the Lord our God.
We and our fathers have sinned.
We have not obeyed the Lord our God
from the time we were children.’”
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