Add parallel Print Page Options

Jeremiah’s summons to change

If 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.
Look to the well-traveled paths[a] 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.
That’s why the showers have failed
    and the spring rains have ceased.
Still you act like a brazen prostitute[b]
    who refuses to blush.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:2 Or bare heights
  2. Jeremiah 3:3 Or You have a prostitute’s forehead.

“If a man divorces(A) his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?(B)
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers(C)
    would you now return to me?”(D)
declares the Lord.
“Look up to the barren heights(E) and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside(F) you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land(G)
    with your prostitution(H) and wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withheld,(I)
    and no spring rains(J) have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen(K) look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame.(L)

Read full chapter