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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The Example of Samaria

In the time of King Josiah the Lord told me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she committed fornication there. I thought,[a] ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to me.’ But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw this. I saw that even though I had sent unfaithful Israel away for all her adulteries and had given her a[b] divorce decree, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t fear, and she, too, committed adultery. She took her fornication so lightly that she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.[c] 10 Yet in all this her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to me with her whole heart, but rather deceptively,” declares the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 3:7 Lit. I said
  2. Jeremiah 3:8 The Heb. lacks a
  3. Jeremiah 3:9 I.e. the Canaanite fertility gods were represented by stones and trees.