3 God calleth his people unto repentance. 14 He promiseth the restitution of his Church. 20 He reproveth Judah and Israel, comparing them to a woman disobedient to her husband.
1 They [a]say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return again unto her? shall not this land [b]be polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many [c]lovers: yet [d]turn again to me, saith the Lord.
2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and behold, where thou hast not played the harlot: thou hast sat waiting for them in the ways, as the [e]Arabian in the wilderness: and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms, and with thy malice.
3 Therefore the showers have been restrained, and the [f]latter rain came not, and thou haddest a [g]whore’s forehead: thou wouldest not be ashamed.
4 Didst thou not still cry [h]unto me, Thou art my father, and the guide of my youth?
5 Will he keep his anger forever? will he reserve it to the end? thus hast thou spoken, but thou doest evil, even more and more.
6 The Lord said also unto me, in the days of Josiah the King, Hast thou seen what this rebel [i]Israel hath done? for she hath gone up upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.
7 And I said, when she had done all this, Turn thou unto me: but she returned not, as her rebellious sister Judah saw.
8 When I saw, how that by all occasions rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I cast [j]her away, and gave her a bill of divorcement: yet her rebellious sister Judah was not afraid, but she went also and played the harlot.
9 So that for the [k]lightness of her whoredom she hath even defiled the land: for she hath committed fornication with stones and stocks.
10 Nevertheless for all this, her rebellious sister Judah hath not returned unto me with [l]her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord.
11 And the Lord said unto me, The rebellious Israel hath [m]justified herself more than the rebellious Judah.
12 Go and cry these words toward [n]the North, and say, Thou disobedient Israel, return, saith the Lord, and I will not let my wrath fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not always keep mine anger.
13 But know thine iniquity: for thou hast rebelled against the Lord thy God, and hast [o]scattered thy ways to the strange gods under every green tree, but ye would not obey my voice, saith the Lord.
14 O ye disobedient children, turn again, saith the Lord, for I am your Lord, and I will take you one of a city, and two of a tribe, and will bring you to Zion,
15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 Moreover, when ye be increased and multiplied in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The [p]Ark of the covenant of the Lord: for it shall come no more to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, for that shall be no more done.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem, [q]The throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, even to the Name of the Lord in Jerusalem: and thence forth they shall follow no more the hardness of their wicked heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the [r]North, into the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, How did I take thee for children, and give thee a pleasant land, even the glorious heritage of the armies of the heathen, and say, Thou shalt call me, saying, My father, and shall not turn from me?
20 But as a woman rebelleth against her [s]husband: so have ye rebelled against me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
21 [t]A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping, and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and forgotten the Lord their God.
22 O ye disobedient children, return and I will heal your rebellions. [u]Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God.
23 Truly the hope of the hills is but vain, nor the multitude of mountains: but in the Lord our God is the health of Israel.
24 For confusion hath devoured our [v]father’s labor, from our youth, their sheep and their bullocks, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our confusion, and our shame covereth us: [w]for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth, even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 3:1 According as it is written, Deut. 24:4.
- Jeremiah 3:1 If he take such one to wife again.
- Jeremiah 3:1 That is, with idols, and with them whom thou hast put thy confidence in.
- Jeremiah 3:1 And I will not cast thee off, but receive thee, according to my mercy.
- Jeremiah 3:2 Which dwelleth in tents and waiteth for them that pass by to spoil them.
- Jeremiah 3:3 As God threatened by his Law, Deut. 28:24.
- Jeremiah 3:3 Thou wouldest never be ashamed of thine acts and repent: and this impudency is common to idolaters, which will not give off, though they be never so manifestly convicted.
- Jeremiah 3:4 He showeth that the wicked in their miseries will cry unto God and use outward prayer as the godly do, but because they turn not from their evil, they are not heard, Isa. 58:3, 4.
- Jeremiah 3:6 Meaning, the ten tribes.
- Jeremiah 3:8 And gave her into the hands of the Assyrians.
- Jeremiah 3:9 The Hebrew word may either signify lightness, and wantonness, or noise and brute.
- Jeremiah 3:10 Judah feigned for a time that she did return, as under Josiah and other good kings, but she was never truly touched, or wholly reformed, as appeared when occasion was offered by any wicked prince.
- Jeremiah 3:11 Israel hath not declared herself so wicked as Judah, which yet hath had more admonitions and examples to call her to repentance.
- Jeremiah 3:12 Whereas the Israelites were now kept in captivity by the Assyrians, to whom he promiseth mercy, if they will repent.
- Jeremiah 3:13 There was no way, which thou didst not haunt to seek after the idols, and to trot a pilgrimage.
- Jeremiah 3:16 This is to be understood of the coming of Christ: for then they shall not seek the Lord by ceremonies, and all figures shall cease.
- Jeremiah 3:17 Meaning, the Church, where the Lord will be present to the world’s end, Matt. 28:20.
- Jeremiah 3:18 Where they are now in captivity.
- Jeremiah 3:20 The Hebrew word signifieth a friend or companion, and here may be taken for a husband, as it is used also, Hos. 3:1.
- Jeremiah 3:21 Signifying, that God, whom they had forsaken, would bring their enemies unto them, who should lead them captive, and make them to cry and lament.
- Jeremiah 3:22 This is spoken in the person of Israel to the shame of Judah, which stayed so long to turn unto God.
- Jeremiah 3:24 For their idolatry God’s vengeance hath light upon them and theirs.
- Jeremiah 3:25 They justify not themselves, or say that they would follow their fathers, but condemn their wicked doings and desire forgiveness of the same, as Ezra 9:7; Ps. 106:6; Isa. 64:6.