Jeremiah 3
3
Unfaithful Israel
1The LORD says, “If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he cannot take her back again. This would completely defile the land. But, Israel, you have had many lovers, and now you want to return to me! 2Look up at the hilltops. Is there any place where you have not acted like a prostitute? You waited for lovers along the roadside, as an Arab waits for victims in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution. 3That is why the rains were held back, and the spring showers did not come. You even look like a prostitute; you have no shame.
4“And now you say to me, ‘You are my father, and you have loved me ever since I was a child. 5You won't always be angry; you won't be cross with me for ever.’ Israel, that is what you said, but you did all the evil you could.”
Israel and Judah must Repent
6 #
2 Kgs 22.1—23.30; 2 Chr 34.1—35.27 When Josiah was king, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what Israel, that unfaithful woman, has done? She has turned away from me, and on every high hill and under every green tree she has acted like a prostitute. 7I thought that after she had done all this, she would surely return to me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it all. 8Judah also saw that I divorced Israel and sent her away because she had turned from me and had become a prostitute. But Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, was not afraid. She too became a prostitute 9and was not at all ashamed. She defiled the land, and she committed adultery by worshipping stones and trees. 10And after all this, Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, only pretended to return to me; she was not sincere. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
11Then the LORD told me that, even though Israel had turned away from him, she had proved to be better than unfaithful Judah. 12He told me to go and say to Israel, “Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you for ever. 13Only admit that you are guilty and that you have rebelled against the LORD, your God. Confess that under every green tree you have given your love to foreign gods and that you have not obeyed my commands. I, the LORD, have spoken.
14“Unfaithful people, come back; you belong to me. I will take one of you from each town and two from each clan, and I will bring you back to Mount Zion. 15I will give you rulers who obey me, and they will rule you with wisdom and understanding. 16Then when you have become numerous in that land, people will no longer talk about my Covenant Box. They will no longer think about it or remember it; they will not even need it, nor will they make another one. 17When that time comes, Jerusalem will be called ‘The Throne of the LORD’, and all nations will gather there to worship me. They will no longer do what their stubborn and evil hearts tell them. 18Israel will join with Judah, and together they will come from exile in the country in the north and will return to the land that I gave your ancestors as a permanent possession.”
The Idolatry of God's People
19The LORD says,
“Israel, I wanted to accept you as my child
and give you a delightful land,
the most beautiful land in all the world.
I wanted you to call me father,
and never again turn away from me.
20But like an unfaithful wife,
you have not been faithful to me.
I, the LORD, have spoken.”
21A noise is heard on the hilltops:
it is the people of Israel crying and pleading,
because they have lived sinful lives
and have forgotten the LORD their God.
22Return, all of you who have turned away from the LORD;
he will heal you and make you faithful.
You say, “Yes, we are coming to the LORD, because he is our God. 23We were not helped at all by our pagan worship on the hilltops. Help for Israel comes only from the LORD our God. 24But the worship of Baal, the god of shame, has made us lose flocks and herds, sons and daughters — everything that our ancestors have worked for since ancient times. 25We should lie down in shame and let our disgrace cover us. We and our ancestors have always sinned against the LORD our God; we have never obeyed his commands.”
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Jeremiah 3: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Jeremiah 3
3
Israel Is Shameless
1“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife,
And she goes from him
And becomes another man’s,
#Deut. 24:1–4May he return to her again?’
Would not that #Jer. 2:7land be greatly polluted?
But you have #Jer. 2:20; Ezek. 16:26played the harlot with many lovers;
#Jer. 4:1; (Zech. 1:3)Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.
2“Lift up your eyes to #Deut. 12:2; Jer. 2:20; 3:21; 7:29the desolate heights and see:
Where have you not lain with men?
#Prov. 23:28By the road you have sat for them
Like an Arabian in the wilderness;
#Jer. 2:7And you have polluted the land
With your harlotries and your wickedness.
3Therefore the #Lev. 26:19; Jer. 14:3–6showers have been withheld,
And there has been no latter rain.
You have had a #Zeph. 3:5harlot’s forehead;
You refuse to be ashamed.
4Will you not from this time cry to Me,
‘My Father, You are #Ps. 71:17; Prov. 2:17the guide of #Jer. 2:2; Hos. 2:15my youth?
5#Ps. 103:9; (Is. 57:16); Jer. 3:12Will He remain angry forever?
Will He keep it to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken and done evil things,
As you were able.”
A Call to Repentance
6The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what #Jer. 7:24backsliding Israel has done? She has #Jer. 2:20gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. 7#2 Kin. 17:13And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous #Jer. 3:11; Ezek. 16:47, 48sister Judah saw it. 8Then I saw that #Ezek. 23:9for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had #2 Kin. 17:6; Is. 50:1put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; #Ezek. 23:11yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. 9So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she #Jer. 2:7defiled the land and committed adultery with #Is. 57:6; Jer. 2:27stones and trees. 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me #Jer. 12:2; Hos. 7:14with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.
11Then the Lord said to me, #Ezek. 16:51, 52“Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12Go and proclaim these words toward #2 Kin. 17:6the north, and say:
‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you.
For I am #Ps. 86:15; Jer. 12:15; 31:20; 33:26merciful,’ says the Lord;
‘I will not remain angry forever.
13#Lev. 26:40; Deut. 30:1, 2; (Prov. 28:13; 1 John 1:9)Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the Lord your God,
And have #Ezek. 16:15scattered your charms
To #Jer. 2:25alien deities #Deut. 12:2under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.
14“Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; #Jer. 31:32; Hos. 2:19, 20“for I am married to you. I will take you, #Jer. 31:6one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to #(Rom. 11:5)Zion. 15And I will give you #Jer. 23:4; 31:10; (Ezek. 34:23); Eph. 4:11shepherds according to My heart, who will #Acts 20:28feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16“Then it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and #Is. 49:19; Jer. 23:3increased in the land in those days,” says the Lord, “that they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ #Is. 65:17It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore.
17“At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, #Is. 60:9to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they #Deut. 29:19; Jer. 7:24follow the dictates of their evil hearts.
18“In those days #Is. 11:13; Jer. 50:4; Ezek. 37:16–22; Hos. 1:11the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of #Jer. 31:8the north to #Amos 9:15the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.
19“But I said:
‘How can I put you among the children
And give you #Ps. 106:24a pleasant land,
A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?’
“And I said:
‘You shall call Me, #Is. 63:16; Jer. 3:4“My Father,”
And not turn away from Me.’
20Surely, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband,
So #Is. 48:8have you dealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” says the Lord.
21A voice was heard on #Is. 15:2the desolate heights,
Weeping and supplications of the children of Israel.
For they have perverted their way;
They have forgotten the Lord their God.
22“Return, you backsliding children,
And I will #Jer. 30:17; 33:6; Hos. 6:1; 14:4heal your backslidings.”
“Indeed we do come to You,
For You are the Lord our God.
23#Ps. 121:1, 2Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills,
And from the multitude of mountains;
#Ps. 3:8; Prov. 21:31; Jer. 17:14; 31:7; Jon. 2:9Truly, in the Lord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.
24#Jer. 11:13; 14:20; Hos. 9:10For shame has devoured
The labor of our fathers from our youth—
Their flocks and their herds,
Their sons and their daughters.
25We lie down in our shame,
And our reproach covers us.
#Ezra 9:6, 7For we have sinned against the Lord our God,
We and our fathers,
From our youth even to this day,
And #Jer. 22:21have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.