Jeremiah 3
3
Jeremiah’s summons to change
1If a man divorces his wife,
and after she leaves him marries another,
can he return to her again?
Wouldn’t such an act completely corrupt the land?
Yet you have prostituted yourself with many lovers.
Would you return to me?
declares the LORD.
2Look to the well-traveled paths#3.2 Or bare heights and see!
Where haven’t you committed adultery?
On the roadsides you sit in wait for lovers,
like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have corrupted the land
with your cheap and reckless behavior.
3That’s why the showers have failed
and the spring rains have ceased.
Still you act like a brazen prostitute#3.3 Or You have a prostitute’s forehead.
who refuses to blush.
4At the same time you say to me,
“My father, my friend since youth,
5will you stay angry forever?
Will you continue to be furious?”
This is what you say
while you do as much evil as you possibly can.
6During the rule of King Josiah, the LORD said to me: Have you noticed what unfaithful Israel has done? She’s gone about looking for lovers on top of every high hill and under every lush tree. 7I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me, but she didn’t. Her disloyal sister Judah saw this. 8She#3.8 LXX, Syr; MT I also saw that I sent unfaithful Israel away with divorce papers because of all her acts of unfaithfulness; yet disloyal sister Judah was not afraid but kept on playing the prostitute. 9She didn’t think twice about corrupting the land and committing adultery with stone and tree. 10Yet even after all this, disloyal sister Judah didn’t return to me with all her heart but only insincerely, declares the LORD. 11Then the LORD said to me: Unfaithful Israel is less guilty#3.11 Or more righteous than disloyal Judah.
12Go proclaim these words to the north and say:
Return, unfaithful Israel,
declares the LORD.
I won’t reject you,
for I’m faithful,
declares the LORD;
I won’t stay angry forever.
13Only acknowledge your wrongdoing:
how you have rebelled against the LORD your God,
and given yourself to strangers
under every lush tree
and haven’t obeyed me,
declares the LORD.
14Return, rebellious children,
declares the LORD,
for I’m your husband.
I’ll gather you—
one from a city and two from a tribe—
and bring you back to Zion.
15I will appoint shepherds with whom I’m pleased, and they will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16And in those days, when your numbers have greatly increased in the land, declares the LORD, people will no longer talk about the LORD’s covenant chest; they won’t recall or remember it; they won’t even miss it or try to build another one. 17At that time, they will call Jerusalem the LORD’s throne, and all nations will gather there to honor the LORD’s name. No longer will they follow their own willful and evil hearts. 18In those days the people of Judah and Israel will leave the north together for the land that I gave their ancestors as an inheritance.
19I thought to myself, How wonderful it would be
to treat you like children
and give you a beautiful land,
an inheritance unrivaled among the nations.
And I thought, You will call me father,
and you won’t turn away from me.
20But as a woman betrays her lover,
so you, people of Israel, have betrayed me,
declares the LORD.
21A voice is heard on the well-traveled paths;#3.21 Or bare heights
it’s the crying and pleading of the people of Israel,
who have lost their way
and forgotten the LORD their God.
22Return, rebellious children,
and I will heal your rebellion.
“Here we are; we come to you,
for you are the LORD our God.
23Surely what happens on the hills#3.23 LXX, Syr, Vulg; MT from the hills is a waste,
as is the uproar on the mountains.
Only in the LORD our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24From our youth, shame#3.24 Or the shame has devoured
the fruit of our parents’ labor—
their flocks and herds,
as well as their sons and daughters.
25Let’s lie down in our shame.
Let our dishonor cover us,
for we have sinned against the LORD our God,
both we and our ancestors,
from our youth to this very day.
We have disobeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 3: CEB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 3
3
1They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith Jehovah. 2Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; yet thou hadst a harlot’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. 4Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth? 5Will he retain his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and hast done evil things, and hast had thy way.
6Moreover Jehovah said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7And I said after she had done all these things, She will return unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot. 9And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.
11And Jehovah said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath showed herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep anger for ever. 13Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah. 14Return, O backsliding children, saith Jehovah; for I am a husband unto you: 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 shepherds according to my heart, who 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, saith Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more. 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19But I said, How I will put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me. 20Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah. 21A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God. 22Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.
Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God. 23Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel. 24But the shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in