Jeremiah 3
Christian Standard Bible
Wages of Apostasy
3 If[a] a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him to marry another,
can he ever return to her?(A)
Wouldn’t such a land[b] become totally defiled?
But you!
You have prostituted yourself with many partners(B)—
can you return to me?(C)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
2 Look to the barren heights(D) and see.
Where have you not been immoral?
You sat waiting for them beside the highways(E)
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.(F)
3 This is why the showers haven’t come(G)—
why there has been no spring rain.
You have the brazen look(H) of a prostitute[c]
and refuse to be ashamed.(I)
4 Haven’t you recently called to me, “My Father!(J)
You were my friend in my youth.(K)
5 Will he bear a grudge forever?(L)
Will he be endlessly infuriated?”
This is what you have said,
but you have done the evil things
you are capable of.
Unfaithful Israel, Treacherous Judah
6 In the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there.(M) 7 I thought, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’(N) But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah(O) saw it. 8 I[d] observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce.(P) Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.(Q) 9 Indifferent to[e] her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones(R) and trees.(S) 10 Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with all her heart(T)—only in pretense.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
11 The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.(U) 12 Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say,
‘Return, unfaithful Israel.(V)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not look on you with anger,[f]
for I am unfailing in my love.(W)
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will not be angry forever.(X)
13 Only acknowledge your guilt(Y)—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God.(Z)
You have scattered your favors to strangers
under every green tree(AA)
and have not obeyed me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
14 “‘Return, you faithless children(AB)—this is the Lord’s declaration—for I am your master,[g](AC) and I will take you,(AD) one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 I will give you shepherds who are loyal to me,[h](AE) and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill. 16 When you multiply and increase in the land,(AF) in those days—this is the Lord’s declaration—no one will say again, “The ark of the Lord’s covenant.”(AG) It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. Another one will not be made.[i] 17 At that time Jerusalem will be called The Lord’s Throne,(AH) and all the nations will be gathered to it,(AI) to the name of the Lord in Jerusalem.(AJ) They will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18 In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel,(AK) and they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.’”(AL)
True Repentance
19 I thought, “How I long to make you my sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance(AM) of all the nations.”
I thought, “You will call me ‘My Father’
and never turn away from me.”
20 However, as a woman may betray her lover,[j]
so you have betrayed(AN) me, house of Israel.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
21 A sound is heard on the barren heights:
the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,
for they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.(AO)
22 Return, you faithless children.
I will heal your unfaithfulness.(AP)
“Here we are, coming to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Surely, falsehood comes from the hills,
commotion from the mountains,(AQ)
but the salvation of Israel
is only in the Lord our God.(AR)
24 From the time of our youth
the shameful one[k] has consumed
what our ancestors have worked for—
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame;
let our disgrace cover us.(AS)
We have sinned against the Lord our God,(AT)
both we and our ancestors,
from the time of our youth even to this day.(AU)
We have not obeyed the Lord our God.”
Footnotes
- 3:1 One Hb ms, LXX, Syr; other Hb mss read Saying: If
- 3:1 LXX reads woman
- 3:3 Lit have a prostitute’s forehead
- 3:8 One Hb ms, Syr read She
- 3:9 Lit From the lightness of
- 3:12 Lit not cause my face to fall on you
- 3:14 Or husband
- 3:15 Lit shepherds according to my heart
- 3:16 Or It will no longer be done
- 3:20 Lit friend
- 3:24 = Baal
Jeremiah 3
Easy-to-Read Version
3 “If a man divorces his wife and she goes and marries someone else,
the first husband cannot take her back.
If he did,[a] 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.
3 You 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.
4 But didn’t you just call me ‘Father’?
Didn’t you say, ‘You have been my friend since I was a child’?
5 You 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
6 The Lord spoke to me during the time King Josiah was ruling the nation of Judah. He said, “Jeremiah, you saw the bad things Israel[b] 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. 7 I 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. 8 Israel 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. 9 Judah 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. 10 Israel’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.
11 The Lord said to me, “Israel was not faithful to me, but she had a better excuse than unfaithful Judah. 12 Jeremiah, 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.
13 But 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.
14 The 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. 15 Then I will give you new rulers who will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16 In 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. 17 At 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. 18 In 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.”
19-20 This 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.
21 You 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[c] you for being unfaithful.
“Just say, ‘Yes, we will come back,
because you are the Lord our God.
23 It 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.
24 That 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.
25 Let 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.’”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 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.
- Jeremiah 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.
- Jeremiah 3:22 forgive Literally, “heal.”
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