Jeremiah 3

Wycliffe Bible

3 It is said commonly, If a man forsaketh his wife, and she go away from him, and be wedded to another husband, whether he shall turn again [any] more to her? whether that woman shall not be defouled, and made unclean? (shall he return to her again? shall that woman not be defiled, and made unclean?) Forsooth thou hast done fornication with many lovers; nevertheless turn thou again to me, saith the Lord, and I shall receive thee.

² Raise thine eyes into straight, and see, where thou art not cast down. Thou hast sat in ways, abiding them as a thief in wilderness, and thou hast defouled the earth in thy fornications and in thy malices. (Raise up thine eyes into the high places, and see, if there is any place where thou hast not laid down. Thou hast sat in ways, waiting for them like a thief in the wilderness, and thou hast defiled the earth with thy fornications and thy malices.)

³ Wherefore the drops of rains were forbidden, and no late rain was. The forehead of a woman whore is made to thee; thou wouldest not be ashamed. (And so the drops of rain were forbidden, and there was no late rain for thee. Thou haddest the forehead, or the face, of a whorewoman, but thou wouldest not be ashamed.)

⁴ Namely from this time forth call thou me, Thou art my father, the leader of my virginity. (Yet now thou sayest to me, Thou art my father, my guide in my younger years.)

⁵ (And,) Whether thou shalt be wroth without end, either shalt continue (to feel so) into the end? Lo! thou hast spoken, and hast done evils, and thou were mighty (in them). And for words of penance thou blasphemedest by words of pride; and thou filledest thine evil thought(s), and showedest thy strength against thy husband, (so) that thou mayest do that thing that thou treatedest by word.

⁶ And the Lord said to me, in the days of Josiah, the king, Whether thou hast seen what thing the adversary, Israel, hath done? She went [away] to herself on each high hill, and under each tree full of boughs, and did fornication there. (And the Lord said to me, in the days of King Josiah, Hast thou seen what my adversary, Israel, hath done? She went upon each high hill, and under each tree full of branches, and she did fornication there.)

⁷ And I said, when she had done all these things, Turn thou again to me; and she turned not again. And her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, saw, (And I said to her, when she had done all these things, Return thou again to me; but she did not return. And her sister, Judah, the law-breaker, saw,)

⁸ that for the adversary, Israel, did adultery, I had let go her, and I had given to her a libel, (or a little book,) of forsaking; and Judah, her sister, breaker of the law, dreaded not, but also she went, and did fornication. (that my adversary, Israel, had done adultery, and that I had let her go, and that I had given her a note of divorce; and her sister Judah, the law-breaker, did not fear, but she also went, and did fornication.)

⁹ And by lightness of her fornication she defouled the earth, and did adultery with a stone, and with a tree. (And with the indifference of her fornication she defiled the land, and did idolatry with a stone, and with a piece of wood.)

¹⁰ And in all these things her sister, Judah, breaker of the law, turned not again to me, in all her heart, but in a leasing, saith the Lord God. (And in all these things her sister, Judah, the law-breaker, did not return to me, with all her heart, but in a lie, or falsely, saith the Lord God.)

¹¹ And the Lord said to me, The adversary, Israel, hath justified her soul, in comparison of Judah, breaker of the law. (And the Lord said to me, My adversary, Israel, hath justified her soul, in comparison to Judah, the law-breaker.)

¹² Go thou, and cry these words against the north; and thou shalt say, Thou adversary, Israel, turn again, saith the Lord, and I shall not turn away my face from you; for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I shall not be wroth without end. (Go thou, and cry out these words against the north; and thou shalt say, O my adversary, Israel, return to me, saith the Lord, and I shall not turn away my face from you; for I am holy, saith the Lord, and I shall not be angry forever.)

¹³ Nevertheless know thou thy wickedness; for thou hast trespassed against thy Lord God, and thou hast spread abroad thy ways to aliens under each tree full of boughs; and thou heardest not my voice, saith the Lord. (Nevertheless know thou thy wickedness; for thou hast trespassed against the Lord thy God, and thou hast spread abroad thy ways to strangers, or to foreigners, under each tree full of branches; and thou hast not listened to, or obeyed, my voice, saith the Lord.)

¹⁴ Be ye converted, sons, turning again, saith the Lord, for I am your husband; and I shall take you, one of a city, and twain of a kindred, and I shall lead you into Zion; (Come back to me/Return to me, ye people who be turned away, saith the Lord, for I am your husband; and I shall take you, one from a city, and two from a tribe, and I shall lead you unto Mount Zion;)

¹⁵ and I shall give to you shepherds after mine heart, and they shall feed you with knowing and teaching.

¹⁶ And when ye shall be multiplied, and increase(d) in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall no more say, The ark of [the] testament of the Lord (they shall no more speak of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord); neither it shall ascend on the heart, neither they shall think on it, neither it shall be visited, neither it shall be further (needed).

¹⁷ In that time they shall call Jerusalem The seat of the Lord, and all heathen men shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem; and they shall not go after the shrewdness of their worst heart. (At that time they shall call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all the heathen shall be gathered together to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem; and they shall not go after the depravity of the worst desires of their hearts.)

¹⁸ In those days the house of Judah shall go to the house of Israel; and they shall come together from the land of the north to the land which I gave to your fathers.

¹⁹ Forsooth I said, How shall I set thee among (my) sons, and shall give to thee a desirable land, a full clear heritage of the hosts of heathen men? And I said, Thou shalt call me, Father, and thou shalt not cease to enter after me. (And I said, Yea, I shall put thee among my sons and daughters, and I shall give thee a desirable land, an inheritance better than anything of the heathen! And I said, Thou shalt call me Father, and thou shalt not cease to follow me.)

²⁰ But as if a woman despiseth her lover (But like a woman can despise her lover), so the house of Israel despised me, saith the Lord.

²¹ A voice is heard in (the) ways, the weeping and yelling of the sons of Israel; for they made wicked their way, they forgat their Lord God. (A sound is heard on the way, the weeping and yelling of the Israelites; for they made their way wicked, they forgot the Lord their God.)

²² Be ye converted, sons, turning again, and I shall heal your turnings away. Lo! we come to thee; for thou art our Lord God. (Come back to me/Return to me, ye people who be turned away, and I shall heal your turnings away. And ye shall say, Lo! we come to thee; for thou art the Lord our God.)

²³ Verily the little hills were liars, the multitude of mountains was false; verily in our Lord God is the health of Israel. (Truly there was no help from our worship on the little hills, or on the mountains; truly in the Lord our God is Israel’s only salvation, or deliverance.)

²⁴ Shame ate the travail of our fathers, from our youth; shame ate the flocks of them, and the droves of them, the sons of them, and the daughters of them. (From our early days, Baal, the god of shame ate the fruits of our forefathers’ labours; yea, the god of shame ate their flocks, and their herds, and their sons, and their daughters.)

²⁵ We shall sleep in our shame, and our shame shall cover us; for we sinned to our Lord God, both we and our fathers, from our youth unto this day; and we have not heard the voice of our Lord God. (We shall sleep in our shame, and our shame shall cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, both we and our forefathers, from our early days until this day; and we have not heard the voice of the Lord our God.)