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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”

“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.
“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.
That’s why even the spring rains have failed.
    For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.
Yet you say to me,
    ‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.
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.”

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