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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.
“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.
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.
Have you not just now called to me,
    ‘My father, you are the close friend of my youth?
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]

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:1 Literally “to say”
  2. Jeremiah 3:1 Literally “and she becomes to a man another”
  3. Jeremiah 3:1 Literally “a declaration of”
  4. Jeremiah 3:2 Or “wilderness”
  5. Jeremiah 3:3 Literally “it is for you”
  6. Jeremiah 3:5 Literally “to eternity”
  7. Jeremiah 3:5 Literally “to duration”
  8. Jeremiah 3:5 Literally “you have done the evil and you were able”

Jeremiah’s summons to change

If a man divorces his wife,
    and after she leaves him marries another,
        can he return to her again?
    Wouldn’t such an act completely corrupt the land?
Yet you have prostituted yourself with many lovers.
    Would you return to me?
        declares the Lord.
Look to the well-traveled paths[a] and see!
    Where haven’t you committed adultery?
On the roadsides you sit in wait for lovers,
    like a nomad in the wilderness.
You have corrupted the land
    with your cheap and reckless behavior.
That’s why the showers have failed
    and the spring rains have ceased.
Still you act like a brazen prostitute[b]
    who refuses to blush.
At the same time you say to me,
    “My father, my friend since youth,
        will you stay angry forever?
        Will you continue to be furious?”
This is what you say
    while you do as much evil as you possibly can.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:2 Or bare heights
  2. Jeremiah 3:3 Or You have a prostitute’s forehead.