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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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Jeremiah 3
3
1If a man divorces his wife#Dt 24:1–4.
and she leaves him
and then becomes the wife of another,
Can she return to the first?#Can she return to the first?: i.e., her first husband. Here the Hebrew is emended in light of the Septuagint and Dt 24:1–4, which forbids a man to take back a woman once he has divorced her. The prophet uses this analogy to illustrate the presumption of Judah, the unfaithful wife, who assumes she can easily return to the Lord after worshiping other gods.
Would not this land be wholly defiled?
But you have played the prostitute with many lovers,
and yet you would return to me!—oracle of the Lord.
2Raise your eyes to the heights, and look,
where have men not lain with you?
Along the roadways you waited for them
like an Arabian#An Arabian: here depicted as a marauder lying in wait for caravans. in the wilderness.
You defiled the land
by your wicked prostitution.#Ex 16:24–25.
3Therefore the showers were withheld,
the spring rain did not fall.
But because you have a prostitute’s brow,
you refused to be ashamed.#Jer 6:15; 8:12.
4Even now do you not call me, “My father,
you are the bridegroom of my youth?
5Will he keep his wrath forever,
will he hold his grudge to the end?”
This is what you say; yet you do
all the evil you can.
Judah and Israel. 6The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Do you see what rebellious Israel has done? She has gone up every high mountain, and under every green tree she has played the prostitute.#Jer 2:20; Dt 12:2. 7And I thought: After she has done all this, she will return to me. But she did not return. Then, even though that traitor her sister Judah, saw 8that, in response to all the adulteries rebel Israel had committed, I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce, nevertheless Judah, the traitor, her sister, was not frightened; she too went off and played the prostitute.#2 Kgs 17:6, 18–23; Ez 23:11. 9With her casual prostitution, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and wood.#Jer 2:27. 10In spite of all this, Judah, the traitor, her sister, did not return to me wholeheartedly, but insincerely—oracle of the Lord.
Restoration of Israel. 11Then the Lord said to me: Rebel Israel is more just than traitor Judah.#Ez 16:51; 23:11. 12Go, proclaim these words toward the north, and say:
Return, rebel Israel—oracle of the Lord—
I will not remain angry with you;
For I am merciful, oracle of the Lord,
I will not keep my anger forever.#Dt 4:29–31.
13Only admit your guilt:
how you have rebelled against the Lord, your God,
How you ran here and there to strangers
under every green tree
and would not listen to my voice—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 2:20, 25; Lv 26:40.
14Return, rebellious children—oracle of the Lord—#A remnant of Israel (v. 14) will reunite with Judah (v. 18). The former Israelite community, represented by the ark of the covenant, will be replaced by a universal alliance, symbolized by Jerusalem, the Lord’s throne, to which all nations will be gathered (v. 17).
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city, two from a clan,
and bring you to Zion.#Jer 23:3; Is 10:21–22.
15I will appoint for you shepherds after my own heart,
who will shepherd you wisely and prudently.#Ez 34:23; Jn 21:15.
16When you increase in number and are fruitful in the land—
oracle of the Lord—
They will in those days no longer say,
“The ark of the covenant of the Lord!”
They will no longer think of it, or remember it,
or miss it, or make another one.
17At that time they will call Jerusalem “the Lord’s throne.” All nations will gather together there to honor the name of the Lord at Jerusalem, and they will no longer stubbornly follow their wicked heart.#Is 2:2. 18In those days the house of Judah will walk alongside the house of Israel; together they will come from the land of the north to the land which I gave your ancestors as a heritage.#Jer 30:3; 31:8.
Conditions for Forgiveness
19I thought:
How I would like to make you my children!
So I gave you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage among the nations!
You would call me, “My Father,” I thought,
and you would never turn away from me.#Jer 31:9, 20; Is 63:16.
20But like a woman faithless to her lover,
thus have you been faithless to me,
house of Israel—oracle of the Lord.#Jer 5:11.
21A cry is heard on the heights!
the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
Because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten the Lord, their God.
22Return, rebellious children!
I will heal your rebellions.
“Here we are! We belong to you,
for you are the Lord, our God.#Hos 3:5.
23Deceptive indeed are the hills,
the mountains, clamorous;
Only in the Lord our God
is Israel’s salvation.#Jer 14:8.
24The shameful thing#The shameful thing: Heb. bosheth (“shame”), a term often substituted for the name of Baal, a Canaanite god worshiped at local shrines. has devoured
our ancestors’ worth from our youth,
Their sheep and cattle,
their sons and daughters.
25Let us lie down in our shame,
let our disgrace cover us,
for we have sinned against the Lord, our God,
We and our ancestors, from our youth to this day;
we did not listen to the voice of the Lord, our God.”#Jer 16:11–12; 22:21.
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