Jeremiah 3
3
1 "It is commonly said: 'If a man has divorced his wife, and she departs from him, she will marry another man.' So why would he return to her again? Is not that woman polluted and defiled? But you have fornicated yourself with many lovers. Even so, return to me, says the Lord, and I will accept you.
2 Lift your eyes straight up, and see where you did not debase yourself. You were sitting in the roadways, waiting for them, like a robber in the wilderness. And you have polluted the land by your fornications and by your wickedness.
3 For this reason, the rain showers were withheld, and there were no late season rains. You made your face like that of a promiscuous woman; you were not willing to blush.
4 Therefore, at least from this moment on, call out to me: 'You are my father, the guide of my virginity.'
5 Why should you be angry unceasingly? And will you continue in this to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil, for you were able to do so."
6 And, in the days of king Josiah, the Lord said to me: "Have you not seen what the apostate Israel has done? She has brought herself up to every lofty mountain, and she has lain down under every leafy tree, and she has committed fornication there.
7 And when she had done all these things, I said: 'Return to me.' But she did not return. And her deceitful sister Judah saw this:
8 that because the apostate Israel had committed adultery, I had dismissed her and had given her a bill of divorce. Yet her deceitful sister Judah was not afraid. But she, too, went and committed fornication herself.
9 And by the act of her fornication, she defiled the land. For she committed adultery with that which is stone and wood.
10 And after all these things, her deceitful sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but with lies, says the Lord."
11 And the Lord said to me: "The apostate Israel has justified her own soul by comparing herself to the deceitful Judah.
12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and you shall say: Return, O apostate Israel, says the Lord. For I will not avert my face from you. For I am holy, says the Lord, and I will not be angry forever.
13 So then, truly acknowledge your iniquity, that you have betrayed the Lord your God, and that you have spread your ways to strangers, under every leafy tree, and that you have not listened to my voice, says the Lord.
14 Convert, O rebellious sons, says the Lord. For I am your leader. And so, I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will lead you into Zion.
15 And I will give you pastors according to my own heart. And they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine.
16 And when you have been multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they will no longer say: 'The Ark of the covenant of the Lord!' And it will not enter into the heart, and they will not call it to mind. It will neither be visited, nor made use of, any longer.
17 In that time, Jerusalem will be called: 'The Throne of the Lord.' And all the nations will be gathered to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem. And they will not walk after the depravity of their own most wicked heart.
18 In those days, the house of Judah will go to the house of Israel, and they will come from the land of the north, at the same time, to the land that I gave to your fathers.
19 But I said: How shall I place you among the sons, and distribute to you a desirable land, the preeminent inheritance of the host of the Gentiles? And I said: You will call me Father, and you will not cease to walk after me.
20 But, in the same way that a woman spurns her lover, so also has the house of Israel spurned me, says the Lord."
21 A voice has been heard in the highways, the weeping and wailing of the sons of Israel. For they have made their own ways sinful; they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 "Convert, O rebellious sons! And I will heal your rebelliousness." "Behold, we are returning to you. For you are the Lord our God!
23 Truly, the hills were liars, with the multitude of the mountains. Truly, the salvation of Israel is in the Lord our God.
24 Confusion has devoured the labor of our fathers, from our youth, with their flocks and their herds, with their sons and their daughters.
25 We will sleep in our confusion, and our disgrace will cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God: we and our fathers, from our youth, even to this day. And we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God."
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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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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc