Jeremiah 3
New Living Translation
3 “If a man divorces a woman
and she goes and marries someone else,
he will not take her back again,
for that would surely corrupt the land.
But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
so why are you trying to come back to me?”
says the Lord.
2 “Look at the shrines on every hilltop.
Is there any place you have not been defiled
by your adultery with other gods?
You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.
You sit alone like a nomad in the desert.
You have polluted the land with your prostitution
and your wickedness.
3 That’s why even the spring rains have failed.
For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.
4 Yet you say to me,
‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.
5 Surely you won’t be angry forever!
Surely you can forget about it!’
So you talk,
but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”
Judah Follows Israel’s Example
6 During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. 7 I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. 8 She saw[a] that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. 9 Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. 10 But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
Hope for Wayward Israel
11 Then the Lord said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! 12 Therefore, go and give this message to Israel.[b] This is what the Lord says:
“O Israel, my faithless people,
come home to me again,
for I am merciful.
I will not be angry with you forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt.
Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and committed adultery against him
by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
14 “Return home, you wayward children,”
says the Lord,
“for I am your master.
I will bring you back to the land of Israel[c]—
one from this town and two from that family—
from wherever you are scattered.
15 And I will give you shepherds after my own heart,
who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.
16 “And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the Lord, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. 17 In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the Lord.’ All nations will come there to honor the Lord. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. 18 In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever.
19 “I thought to myself,
‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’
I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land—
the finest possession in the world.
I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’
and I wanted you never to turn from me.
20 But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel!
You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.
I, the Lord, have spoken.”
21 Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains,
the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people.
For they have chosen crooked paths
and have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “My wayward children,” says the Lord,
“come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”
“Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply,
“for you are the Lord our God.
23 Our worship of idols on the hills
and our religious orgies on the mountains
are a delusion.
Only in the Lord our God
will Israel ever find salvation.
24 From childhood we have watched
as everything our ancestors worked for—
their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—
was squandered on a delusion.
25 Let us now lie down in shame
and cover ourselves with dishonor,
for we and our ancestors have sinned
against the Lord our God.
From our childhood to this day
we have never obeyed him.”
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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