Jeremiah 3
Expanded Bible
Judah Is Unfaithful
3 “If a man ·divorces [L sends away] his wife
and she leaves him and marries another man,
should her first husband come back to her again?
If he went back to her, wouldn’t the land become completely ·unclean [defiled; polluted; C in a ritual sense; such a thing was forbidden by the Law; Deut. 24:1–4]?
But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers,
and now you want to come back to me?” says the Lord [Hos. 2:7];
2 “·Look up [L Lift up your eyes and look] to the bare hilltops, Judah.
Is there any place where ·you have not been a prostitute [L you have not been lain with; C the hill country contained many pagan altars]?
You have sat by the road waiting for lovers,
like an Arab in the ·desert [wilderness].
You made the land ·unclean [defiled; polluted; C in a ritual sense],
because you did evil and were like a prostitute.
3 So the rain has ·not come [L been withheld],
and there have not been any spring rains [1 Kin. 17:1].
But ·your face still looks like the face [L you have the forehead] of a prostitute [C unembarrassed].
You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.
4 ·Now you are [L Are you not now…?] calling to me,
‘My father, you have been my friend since I was young.
5 Will you always be angry at me?
Will your anger last ·forever [L to the end]?’
Judah, you said this,
but you did as much evil as you could!”
Judah and Israel Are like Sisters
6 ·When [L In the days when] Josiah [C Jeremiah began his work in Josiah’s thirteenth year (626 bc) and continued until Josiah’s death (609 bc) and beyond; 1:1–3] was ·ruling Judah [L king], the Lord said to me, “Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree [2:20]. 7 I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she does this evil,’ but she didn’t come back. And Israel’s ·wicked [traitorous; treacherous] sister Judah saw what she did [Ezek. 13; 26]. 8 Judah saw that I ·divorced [L sent away with a certificate of divorce] unfaithful Israel because of her adultery [C in the Assyrian exile of 722 bc], but that didn’t make Israel’s ·wicked [traitorous; treacherous] sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute! 9 And she didn’t care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country ·unclean [defiled; polluted; C in a ritual sense] and was guilty of adultery with stone and wood [C by worshiping idols made of these materials]. 10 Israel’s ·wicked [traitorous; treacherous] sister, Judah, didn’t even come back to me with her whole heart, but only pretended,” says the Lord.
11 The Lord said to me, “·Unfaithful [Apostate] Israel ·had a better excuse [L is more righteous] than ·wicked [traitorous; treacherous] Judah. 12 Go and speak ·this message [L these words] toward the north:
‘·Come back [Return], ·unfaithful [apostate] people of Israel,’ says the Lord.
‘I will ·stop being angry [no longer frown; L make my face fall] at you,
because I am ·full of mercy [loyal],’ says the Lord.
‘I will not be angry with you forever.
13 ·All you have to do is admit your sin—[L Acknowledge your guilt]
that you ·turned [rebelled; transgressed] against the Lord your God
and ·worshiped gods [L scattered your ways to strangers] under every green tree [2:20]
and didn’t ·obey me [L listen to my voice],’” says the Lord.
14 “·Come back [Return] to me, you ·unfaithful [apostate] children,” says the Lord, “because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two from every ·family group [clan], and I will bring you to ·Jerusalem [L Zion; C the location of the Temple]. 15 Then I will give you ·new rulers [L shepherds] ·who will be faithful to me [L according to my heart], who will ·lead [shepherd] you with knowledge and ·understanding [insight]. 16 In those days ·there will be many of you [L you will multiply and be fruitful] in the land,” says the Lord. “At that time people will no longer say, ‘The Ark of the ·Agreement [L Covenant; Testimony; Treaty; Ex. 25:10].’ They won’t remember it or miss it or make another one. 17 At that time people will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord [C due to God’s presence], and all nations will ·come together [gather] in Jerusalem to ·show respect to [L the name of] the Lord [12:15–16; 16:19; Is. 2:2–4; 56:6–7; Mic. 4:1–3; Zech. 2:11; 8:2–23; 14:16–17]. They will not ·follow [L go after] their stubborn, evil hearts anymore. 18 In those days the ·family [L house] of Judah will join the ·family [L house] of Israel. They will come together from a land in the north to the land I ·gave their ancestors [L caused their ancestors/fathers to inherit; C the future return from exile].
19 “I, the Lord, said,
‘How ·happy I would be to treat you as [L I would set you among] my own children
and give you a ·pleasant [favored; coveted; desired] land,
a ·land [inheritance] more beautiful than that of any other nation [Ex. 3:8, 17; Lam. 2:15; Ezek. 20:6; Dan. 11:16, 41].’
I thought you would call me ‘My Father’
and not turn away from me.
20 But like a woman who is ·unfaithful [a traitor; treacherous] to her husband,
·family [L house] of Israel, you have been unfaithful [a traitor; treacherous] to me,” says the Lord.
21 You can hear ·crying [L a voice] on the bare hilltops [3:2].
It is the people of Israel crying and ·praying for mercy [supplicating].
They have ·become very evil [L wandered off their path]
and have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Come back to me, you ·unfaithful [apostate] children,
and I will ·forgive [L heal] you for being ·unfaithful [apostate].”
“Yes, we will come to you,
because you are the Lord our God.
23 ·It was foolish to worship idols on [L Deception/Illusions come from] the hills
and ·orgies [L a tumult] on the mountains.
Surely the salvation of Israel
comes from the Lord our God.
24 Since our youth, shameful things [C false gods] have eaten up
everything our ·ancestors [fathers] worked for—
their flocks and herds,
their sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our ·shame [humiliation],
and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God,
both we and our ·ancestors [fathers].
From our youth until now,
we have not ·obeyed [L listened to the voice of] the Lord our God.”
Jeremiah 3
New American Standard Bible
The Defiled Land
3 God [a]says, “(A)If a husband divorces his wife
And she leaves him
And becomes another man’s wife,
Will he return to her again?
Would that land not be completely defiled?
But you (B)are a prostitute with many [b]lovers;
Yet you (C)turn to Me,” declares the Lord.
2 “Raise your eyes to the (D)bare heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
You have (E)sat for them by the roads
Like an Arab in the desert,
And you have (F)defiled a land
With your prostitution and your wickedness.
3 Therefore the (G)showers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a (H)prostitute’s [c]forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to Me,
‘(I)My Father, You are the (J)friend of my (K)youth?
5 (L)Will He be angry forever,
Or keep His anger to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have [d]had your own way.”
Faithless Israel
6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She (M)went up on every high hill and under every leafy tree, and she prostituted herself there. 7 Yet (N)I [e]thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her (O)treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw that for all the [f]adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and (P)given her a certificate of divorce, yet her (Q)treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and prostituted herself also. 9 And because of the thoughtlessness of her prostitution, she (R)defiled the land and committed [g]adultery with (S)stones and trees. 10 Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in (T)deception,” declares the Lord.
God Invites Repentance
11 And the Lord said to me, “(U)Faithless Israel has proved herself to be more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,
‘(V)Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘(W)I will not [h]look at you in anger.
For I am (X)gracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Only [i](Y)acknowledge your wrongdoing,
That you have revolted against the Lord your God,
And have (Z)scattered your [j]favors to the strangers (AA)under every leafy tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
14 ‘Return, you faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘For I am a (AB)master to you,
And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
And (AC)bring you to Zion.’
15 “Then I will give you (AD)shepherds [k]after My own heart, who will (AE)feed you knowledge and understanding. 16 And it shall be in those days when you become numerous and are fruitful in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will (AF)no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The (AG)Throne of the Lord,’ and (AH)all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the (AI)name of the Lord; and they will no longer (AJ)follow the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 (AK)In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together (AL)from the land of the north to the (AM)land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.
19 “Then I said,
‘How I would set you among [l]My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most (AN)beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, (AO)My Father,
And not turn away from following Me.’
20 However, as a woman treacherously leaves her lover,
So you have (AP)dealt treacherously with Me,
House of Israel,” declares the Lord.
21 A voice is heard on the (AQ)bare heights,
The weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel.
Because they have perverted their way,
They have (AR)forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, you faithless sons,
(AS)I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
23 Certainly (AT)the hills are a deception,
[m]Commotion on the mountains.
Certainly in the (AU)Lord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But (AV)the shame has consumed the product of our fathers’ labor since our youth—their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our (AW)shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, (AX)from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 3:1 Lit saying
- Jeremiah 3:1 Lit companions
- Jeremiah 3:3 I.e., calloused appearance
- Jeremiah 3:5 Lit been able
- Jeremiah 3:7 Lit said
- Jeremiah 3:8 I.e., idolatry
- Jeremiah 3:9 I.e., idolatry
- Jeremiah 3:12 Lit make My face fall
- Jeremiah 3:13 Lit know
- Jeremiah 3:13 Lit ways
- Jeremiah 3:15 I.e., with hearts like Mine
- Jeremiah 3:19 Lit the
- Jeremiah 3:23 I.e., from idolatrous rituals
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
