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If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
can he return to her again?[a]
Wouldn’t acting like that completely defile the land?
But you have lived like a prostitute with many lovers.
And now you want to return to me?
declares the Lord.
Look up to the bare hills and see.
Is there any place where you have not engaged in sex?[b]
You sat by the roadsides waiting for lovers,
    like a nomad[c] in the desert.
You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
That is why the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rains have not come.
Yet you have the shameless look of a prostitute.
You refuse to be ashamed.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:1 Deuteronomy 24:1-4 says that he cannot.
  2. Jeremiah 3:2 The main Hebrew reading uses a blunt sexual term. The reading written in the margin of the Hebrew text substitutes a milder term. The translation above splits the difference.
  3. Jeremiah 3:2 Or an Arab

“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)

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