Jeremiah 3
International Standard Version
God Contemplates Divorcing Israel
3 “When a man divorces his wife, she leaves him and
becomes another man’s wife,
will the first husband[a] return to her again?
The land would be deeply polluted, would it not?
Since you have committed fornication with many lovers,
would you now return to me?”
declares the Lord.
2 “Look up to the barren heights and see.
Is there any place[b] where you have not been ravished?
You have sat beside the road, waiting[c] for them[d]
like a nomad in the desert.
And you have polluted the land
with your fornication and your wickedness.
3 This is why the rain has been withheld
and there are no spring showers.
Yet you have a harlot’s look[e]
and you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just called out to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 will he hold on to his anger forever,
will he persist in his wrath to the end?’
Look, you have spoken and done evil things,
and you have succeeded in it.”[f]
The Example of Samaria
6 In the time of King Josiah the Lord told me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there. 7 I thought,[g] ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’ But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this. 8 I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a[h] divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, and she, too, committed adultery. 9 She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.[i] 10 Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively,” declares the Lord.
A Call for Repentance
11 Then the Lord told me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say,
‘Return, unfaithful Israel,’
declares the Lord.
‘I won’t look on you in anger,
for I am gracious,’[j]
declares the Lord.
‘I won’t remain angry forever.
13 ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity,
that you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
and have scattered your favors to strangers
under every green tree.
But you haven’t obeyed me,’
declares the Lord.
14 “Return, unfaithful people,”[k] declares the Lord, “for I am your husband.[l] I’ll take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I’ll bring you to Zion. 15 I’ll give you shepherds[m] after my own heart, and they’ll shepherd you with knowledge and good sense.”
16 “And in those days when you increase in numbers and multiply in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord,’ and it won’t come to mind, and they won’t remember it or miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time people will call Jerusalem, “The Throne of the Lord,” and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. They’ll no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires.[n] 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they’ll come to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.”
God’s Desire for His People
19 “I said,
‘How I wanted to treat you like children,
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful inheritance of the nations.’
I said, ‘You will call me, my father,
and won’t turn back from following me.’
20 Instead, like an unfaithful wife leaves her husband,
so you have been unfaithful to me, house of Israel,”
declares the Lord.
Israel Cries for Help
21 “A voice is heard on the barren heights,
the weeping and pleading of the children of Israel
because they have perverted their way.
They have forgotten the Lord their God.”
God Calls for Repentance
22 “Turn back, unfaithful people,[o]
and I’ll heal your unfaithfulness.”
Israel Replies
“Look, we’re coming to you
because you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly the hills are a deception,[p]
and the mountains[q] are confusion.
Truly, in the Lord our God is Israel’s salvation.”
24 Since our youth the false gods have consumed
the products of our ancestors’ hard work,
their sheep and their cattle,
their sons and their daughters.
25 “Let us lie down in our shame,
and let our humiliation cover us,
because both we and our ancestors have sinned
against the Lord our God from our youth
until this present time.
We haven’t obeyed the Lord our God.”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 3:1 Lit. he
- Jeremiah 3:2 The Heb. lacks Is there anyplace
- Jeremiah 3:2 The Heb. lacks waiting
- Jeremiah 3:2 I.e. as if waiting for a prostitute
- Jeremiah 3:3 Lit. forehead
- Jeremiah 3:5 The Heb. lacks in it
- Jeremiah 3:7 Lit. I said
- Jeremiah 3:8 The Heb. lacks a
- Jeremiah 3:9 I.e. the Canaanite fertility gods were represented by stones and trees.
- Jeremiah 3:12 I.e. characterized by gracious love
- Jeremiah 3:14 Or sons
- Jeremiah 3:14 Or master
- Jeremiah 3:15 I.e. leaders
- Jeremiah 3:17 Lit. follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts
- Jeremiah 3:22 Or sons
- Jeremiah 3:23 I.e. as a source of deliverance
- Jeremiah 3:23 I.e. where false gods were worshipped
Jeremiah 3
Lexham English Bible
3 A saying:[a] ‘Look, if a man divorces his wife,
and she goes from him and she becomes another man’s wife,[b]
will he return to her again?’
Will not that land be greatly defiled?
And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
would you now return to me?” declares[c] Yahweh.
2 “Lift up your eyes at the barren heights,
and see where you have not been ravished.
Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert,[d]
and you have defiled the land
with your fornication
and with your wickedness.
3 Therefore rain showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come.
Yet you have[e] the forehead of a woman prostitute,
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to me,
‘My father, you are the close friend of my youth?
5 Will he be angry forever?[f]
Will he maintain it always’?[g]
Look, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”[h]
Yahweh Gives Israel a Letter of Divorce
6 Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, “Have you seen what apostate[i] Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted herself there. 7 And I thought, ‘After her doing all these things to me she will return,’ but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.[j] 8 And I saw that for this very reason, that[k] on account of apostate[l] Israel committing adultery I divorced her and gave the letter of divorce to her. Yet her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid and she went and prostituted herself also. 9 And it was because of the frivolity of her fornication that she defiled the land and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. 10 Yet even in all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only[m] in pretense,”[n] declares[o] Yahweh.
A Call for Repentance
11 Then Yahweh said to me, “Apostate[p] Israel has proved herself more upright[q] than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,
‘Return, apostate[r] Israel,’ declares[s] Yahweh.
‘I will not cause my anger[t] to fall on you.
For I am loyal,’ declares[u] Yahweh.
‘I will not be angry forever.[v]
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that against Yahweh your God you have rebelled,
and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree,
and you have not obeyed my voice,’ declares[w] Yahweh.”
14 “Return, apostate[x] children,” declares[y] Yahweh. “For I am your master,[z] and I will take you one from a city and two from a clan,[aa] and I will bring you to Zion. 15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart and they will feed you knowledge and insight. 16 And it will be when you have multiplied and become fruitful in the land in those days,” declares[ab] Yahweh, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come to mind,[ac] nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it,[ad] nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of Yahweh,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem, and they will no longer go after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk along with the house of Israel and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave as an inheritance to your ancestors.[ae]
19 Then I thought, ‘How I would set you among the children,
and I would give you a land of desire,
an inheritance of the glory of the hosts of nations.’
And I thought, ‘You would call me, “My father,”
and you would not turn back from behind[af] me.’
20 However, as a wife departs treacherously from her lover,
so you have dealt treacherously with me,
O house of Israel,” declares[ag] Yahweh.
21 “A voice is heard on the barren heights,
the weeping of the pleas for mercy of the children of Israel,
because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
22 Return, O apostate[ah] children,
I will heal your backsliding.
‘Look, we come to you,
for you are Yahweh our God.
23 Surely, an illusion comes from the hills,
the turmoil on the mountains.
Surely, in Yahweh our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 But the shameful thing has devoured
the labor of our ancestors[ai] from our youth,
their flocks, and their cattle,
their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame,
and let our disgrace cover us.
For against Yahweh our God we have sinned,
we and our ancestors,[aj]
from our youth and until this day.
and we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.’
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 3:1 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 3:1 Literally “and she becomes to a man another”
- Jeremiah 3:1 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:2 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 3:3 Literally “it is for you”
- Jeremiah 3:5 Literally “to eternity”
- Jeremiah 3:5 Literally “to duration”
- Jeremiah 3:5 Literally “you have done the evil and you were able”
- Jeremiah 3:6 Or “unfaithful”
- Jeremiah 3:7 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Jeremiah 3:8 Literally “because of all”
- Jeremiah 3:8 Or “unfaithful”
- Jeremiah 3:10 Literally “but if”
- Jeremiah 3:10 Or “deception”
- Jeremiah 3:10 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:11 Or “unfaithful”
- Jeremiah 3:11 Or “righteous”
- Jeremiah 3:12 Or “unfaithful”
- Jeremiah 3:12 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:12 Literally “faces”
- Jeremiah 3:12 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:12 Literally “to eternity”
- Jeremiah 3:13 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:14 Or “unfaithful”
- Jeremiah 3:14 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:14 Literally “I rule over among you”
- Jeremiah 3:14 Or “family”
- Jeremiah 3:16 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:16 Literally “it shall not go up on heart”
- Jeremiah 3:16 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
- Jeremiah 3:18 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 3:19 Or “following”
- Jeremiah 3:20 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 3:22 Or “unfaithful”
- Jeremiah 3:24 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 3:25 Or “fathers”
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