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
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.