Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

The Lord said to me in the days of (A)King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, (B)how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there (C)played the whore? And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous (D)sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, (E)I had sent her away with (F)a decree of divorce. (G)Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went (H)and played the whore. Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with (I)stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me (J)with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

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Yahweh Gives Israel a Letter of Divorce

Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah, the king, “Have you seen what apostate[a] Israel has done? She has gone on every high hill and under every leafy tree and she has prostituted herself there. 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.[b] And I saw that for this very reason, that[c] on account of apostate[d] 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. 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[e] in pretense,”[f] declares[g] Yahweh.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:6 Or “unfaithful”
  2. Jeremiah 3:7 Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation
  3. Jeremiah 3:8 Literally “because of all”
  4. Jeremiah 3:8 Or “unfaithful”
  5. Jeremiah 3:10 Literally “but if”
  6. Jeremiah 3:10 Or “deception”
  7. Jeremiah 3:10 Literally “a declaration of”