Jeremiah 3
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition
Unfaithful Israel
3 If[a] a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
says the Lord.
2 Look up to the bare heights,[b] and see!
Where have you not been lain with?
By the waysides you have sat waiting for lovers,
like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have polluted the land
with your whoring and wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have the forehead of a whore,
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to me,
‘My Father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 will he be angry for ever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
This is how you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.
A Call to Repentance
6 The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and played the whore there? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me’; but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. 8 She[c] saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce; yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom so lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but only in pretence, says the Lord.
11 Then the Lord said to me: Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say:
Return, faithless Israel,
says the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for I am merciful,
says the Lord;
I will not be angry for ever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
and scattered your favours among strangers under every green tree,
and have not obeyed my voice,
says the Lord.
14 Return, O faithless children,
says the Lord,
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the Lord, they shall no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, or be remembered, or missed; nor shall another one be made. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no longer stubbornly follow their own evil will. 18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your ancestors for a heritage.
19 I thought
how I would set you among my children,
and give you a pleasant land,
the most beautiful heritage of all the nations.
And I thought you would call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband,
so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel,
says the Lord.
21 A voice on the bare heights[d] is heard,
the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children,
because they have perverted their way,
they have forgotten the Lord their God:
22 Return, O faithless children,
I will heal your faithlessness.
‘Here we come to you;
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly the hills are[e] a delusion,
the orgies on the mountains.
Truly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 ‘But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our ancestors had laboured, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonour cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our ancestors, from our youth even to this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.’
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 3:1 Q Ms Gk Syr: MT Saying, If
- Jeremiah 3:2 Or the trails
- Jeremiah 3:8 Q Ms Gk Mss Syr: MT I
- Jeremiah 3:21 Or the trails
- Jeremiah 3:23 Gk Syr Vg: Heb Truly from the hills is
耶利米书 3
Chinese Union Version Modern Punctuation (Simplified)
责其行淫作恶
3 “有话说，人若休妻，妻离他而去，做了别人的妻，前夫岂能再收回她来？若收回她来，那地岂不是大大玷污了吗？但你和许多亲爱的行邪淫，还可以归向我。”这是耶和华说的。 2 “你向净光的高处举目观看，你在何处没有淫行呢？你坐在道旁等候，好像阿拉伯人在旷野埋伏一样，并且你的淫行、邪恶玷污了全地。 3 因此甘霖停止，春[a]雨不降，你还是有娼妓之脸，不顾羞耻。 4 从今以后，你岂不向我呼叫说：‘我父啊，你是我幼年的恩主！ 5 耶和华岂永远怀怒，存留到底吗？’看哪，你又发恶言又行坏事，随自己的私意而行[b]。”
犹大之恶较以色列尤甚
6 约西亚王在位的时候，耶和华又对我说：“背道的以色列所行的，你看见没有？她上各高山，在各青翠树下行淫。 7 她行这些事以后，我说她必归向我，她却不归向我。她奸诈的妹妹犹大也看见了。 8 背道的以色列行淫，我为这缘故给她休书休她。我看见她奸诈的妹妹犹大还不惧怕，也去行淫。 9 因以色列轻忽了她的淫乱，和石头木头行淫，地就被玷污了。 10 虽有这一切的事，她奸诈的妹妹犹大还不一心归向我，不过是假意归我。”这是耶和华说的。
悔罪归诚仍施矜悯
11 耶和华对我说：“背道的以色列比奸诈的犹大还显为义。 12 你去向北方宣告说：‘耶和华说：背道的以色列啊，回来吧！我必不怒目看你们，因为我是慈爱的，我必不永远存怒。这是耶和华说的。 13 只要承认你的罪孽，就是你违背耶和华你的神，在各青翠树下向别神东奔西跑，没有听从我的话。这是耶和华说的。 14 耶和华说：背道的儿女啊，回来吧！因为我做你们的丈夫，并且我必将你们从一城取一人，从一族取两人，带到锡安。 15 我也必将合我心的牧者赐给你们，他们必以知识和智慧牧养你们。 16 耶和华说：你们在国中生养众多，当那些日子，人必不再提说耶和华的约柜，不追想，不记念，不觉缺少，也不再制造。 17 那时，人必称耶路撒冷为耶和华的宝座，万国必到耶路撒冷，在耶和华立名的地方聚集。他们必不再随从自己顽梗的恶心行事。 18 当那些日子，犹大家要和以色列家同行，从北方之地一同来到我赐给你们列祖为业之地。
以色列认罪蒙恩
19 ‘我说，我怎样将你安置在儿女之中，赐给你美地，就是万国中肥美的产业！我又说，你们必称我为父，也不再转去不跟从我。 20 以色列家，你们向我行诡诈，真像妻子行诡诈离开她丈夫一样。这是耶和华说的。 21 在净光的高处听见人声，就是以色列人哭泣恳求之声，乃因他们走弯曲之道，忘记耶和华他们的神。 22 你们这背道的儿女啊，回来吧！我要医治你们背道的病。’”
“看哪！我们来到你这里，因你是耶和华我们的神。 23 仰望从小山或从大山的喧嚷中得帮助，真是枉然的，以色列得救诚然在乎耶和华我们的神。 24 从我们幼年以来，那可耻的偶像将我们列祖所劳碌得来的羊群、牛群和他们的儿女都吞吃了。 25 我们在羞耻中躺卧吧，愿惭愧将我们遮盖！因为从立国[c]以来，我们和我们的列祖常常得罪耶和华我们的神，没有听从耶和华我们神的话。”
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