Jeremiah 3
1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers— and you would return to Me?”
They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou have played the harlot with many lovers. Yet return again to me, says Jehovah.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
Lift up thine eyes to the bare heights, and see. Where have thou not been lain with? By the ways thou have sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness, and thou have polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. Yet thou have a harlot's forehead; thou refused to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.
Will thou not from this time cry to me, My Father, thou are the guide of my youth?
5 Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ This you have spoken, but you keep doing all the evil you can.”
Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou have spoken, and have done evil things, and have had thy way.
6 Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there.
Moreover Jehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have thou seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.
7 I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.
And I said after she had done all these things, She will return to me, but she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not, but she also went and played the harlot.
9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
And it came to pass through the frivolity of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10 Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but in pretense, says Jehovah.
11 And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
And Jehovah said to me, Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, says Jehovah, I will not look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says Jehovah. I will not keep anger forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’”
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou have transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and have scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, says Jehovah.
14 “Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion.
Return, O backsliding sons, says Jehovah, for I am a husband to you. And I will take you, one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
15 Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”
And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 “In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.
And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says Jehovah, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah, nor shall it come to mind. Neither shall they remember it, nor shall they miss it. Neither shall it be made any more.
17 At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. Neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.
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 north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.
19 Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.
But I said, How I will put thee among the sons, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! And I said, Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.
20 But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”
Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so ye have dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says Jehovah.
21 A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.
A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel, because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten Jehovah their God.
22 “Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
Return, ye backsliding sons, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we have come to thee, for thou are Jehovah our God.
23 Surely deception comes from the hills, and commotion from the mountains. Surely the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.
Truly it is in vain from the heights, the multitude on the mountains. Truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 From our youth, that shameful god has consumed what our fathers have worked for— their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame; let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, both we and our fathers; from our youth even to this day we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”
Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us, for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
