Jeremiah 3
1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she goe from him, and become another mans, shall hee returne againe vnto her? shall not this land be polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many louers: yet turne againe to mee, sayeth the Lord.
“[Moses wrote that] if a man divorces his wife and then she marries another man, her first husband certainly must not [RHQ] take her back again [to be his wife], because that would certainly [RHQ] cause the whole nation to become unacceptable to me. But you have more [idols than] prostitutes have men whom they have slept with! So, [why should I accept you if] you return to me?” [RHQ] says Yahweh.
2 Lift vp thine eyes vnto the hie places, and beholde, where thou hast not plaied the harlot: thou hast sit waiting for them in the waies, as the Arabian in the wildernesse: and thou hast polluted the lande with thy whoredomes, and with thy malice.
“Look up at the barren hilltops. On every hilltop there are [RHQ] [idols that you have worshiped]. [It is as though] they are all lovers with whom you have had sex. [It is as though] you have sat along the roadsides like an Arab, waiting [to attack and steal things from] those who pass by. Because of worshiping idols and all the other wicked things that you have done, you have caused the [entire] land to become unacceptable to me.
3 Therefore the showres haue beene restrained, and the latter raine came not, and thou haddest a whores forehead: thou wouldest not bee ashamed.
That is why I have not sent you any rain at the times of the year when you needed it. But you are like prostitutes [MET] who are not at all ashamed [for what they have done].
4 Diddest thou not stil crie vnto me, Thou art my father, and the guide of my youth?
Now each of you says to me, ‘You are my father! You have loved me ever since I was young!
5 Wil he keepe his anger for euer? will he reserue it to the ende? thus hast thou spoken, but thou doest euill, euen more and more.
So surely you will not [RHQ] be angry with me forever!’ But you will not quit sinning!”
6 The Lord saide also vnto me, in the daies of Iosiah the King, Hast thou seene what this rebell Israel hath done? for she hath gone vp vpon euery high mountaine, and vnder euery greene tree, and there plaied the harlot.
[One day] when Josiah was the king of Judah, Yahweh said to me, “Have you seen what the people of Israel have done? They have turned away from me, like a woman who has abandoned her husband and sleeps with other men. They have gone up on every hilltop and under every big tree and worshiped idols there [MET].
7 And I sayde, when shee had done all this, Turne thou vnto me: but she returned not, as her rebellious sister Iudah sawe.
I thought that they would return to me, so I said to them, ‘Come back to me!’ But they refused. So I sent them away [to other countries, like a man] writes a note saying that he is divorcing his wife and then sends his wife away because she has committed adultery [MET].
8 When I sawe, howe that by all occasions rebellious Israel had plaied the harlot, I cast her away, and gaue her a bill of diuorcement: yet her rebellious sister Iudah was not afraied, but shee went also, and plaied the harlot.
The people of Judah saw what I did to them. But they are just like the people of Israel. They are not afraid [of what I will do to them]. They also [have turned away from me and are worshiping idols like] women who abandon their husbands and go to other men [MET].
9 So that for the lightnesse of her whoredome shee hath euen defiled the lande: for shee hath committed fornication with stones and stockes.
They thought that worshiping idols did not matter to me, so they have made the [entire] land unacceptable to me by worshiping idols of wood and stone.
10 Neuerthelesse for all this, her rebellious sister Iudah hath not returned vnto mee with her whole heart, but fainedly, sayth the Lord.
The people of Judah have pretended to return to me, but they have not really done that. [This is true because I], Yahweh, have said it.”
11 And the Lord said vnto me, The rebellious Israel hath iustified her selfe more then the rebellious Iudah.
Then Yahweh said to me, “The people of Israel have turned away from me, but what the people of Judah have done is worse.
12 Goe and crie these woordes towarde the North and say, Thou disobedient Israel, returne, sayeth the Lord, and I will not let my wrath fall vpon you: for I am mercifull, sayeth the Lord, and I will not alway keepe mine anger.
So go and tell this to the people of Israel: ‘Yahweh says this to you Israeli people who have turned away from him: I am merciful. I will not continue to be angry with you forever. So return to me.
13 But knowe thine iniquitie: for thou hast rebelled against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy waies to the straunge gods vnder euery greene tree, but yee woulde not obey my voyce, sayeth the Lord.
But you must admit/say that you are guilty, and that you have rebelled against me, Yahweh, your God, that you have worshiped idols under big trees everywhere, and you have not obeyed me. You have turned away from me.
14 O yee disobedient children, turne againe, sayeth the Lord, for I am your Lord, and I will take you one of a citie, and two of a tribe and wil bring you to Zion,
But you belong to me. So I will take you, one from [each] city and two from [each] clan, and bring you [back] to Jerusalem [from the countries to which you were exiled].
15 And I will giue you pastours according to mine heart, which shall feede you with knowledge and vnderstanding.
[If you do that], I will appoint for you leaders with whom I am pleased, leaders who will guide you [well] because they will know and understand [what pleases me].
16 Moreouer, when yee be increased and multiplied in the land, in those daies, saieth the Lord, they shall say no more, The Arke of the couenant of the Lord: for it shall come no more to minde, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visite it, for that shalbe no more done.
And when you become very numerous [DOU] in your land, you will not need to talk about the Sacred Chest that contained the Ten Commandments. You will not think about it, and you will not want to make a new one.
17 At that time they shall cal Ierusalem, The throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered vnto it, euen to the Name of the Lord in Ierusalem: and thence foorth they shall follow no more the hardnesse of their wicked heart.
At that time people will say, “Jerusalem is [the place where] Yahweh’s throne is.” [People from] all nations will come there to worship me. And they will no longer stubbornly do the evil things that they desire.
18 In those daies ye house of Iudah shall walke with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the lande of the North, into the lande, that I haue giuen for an inheritance vnto your fathers.
At that time you people [MTY] of Israel and the people of Judah will return from [being (exiled/forced to live) in] lands to the northeast. You will return to the land that I gave to your ancestors to belong to them [forever].
19 But I sayde, Howe did I take thee for children and giue thee a pleasant lande, euen the glorious heritage of the armies of the heathen, and saide, Thou shalt call mee, saying, My father, and shalt not turne from me?
You people of Israel, I wanted to accept you to be my children. I wanted to give you [this] delightful land. It is a land more desirable/pleasant than the land of any other nation! I wanted you to call me ‘father’, and I wanted you to never turn away from me.
20 But as a woman rebelleth against her husband: so haue yee rebelled against me, O house of Israel, sayeth the Lord.
But you have abandoned me like wives who have abandoned their husbands.’” [That is what] Yahweh said, and [I told it] to the people of Israel.
21 A voice was heard vpon the hie places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they haue peruerted their way, and forgotten the Lord their God.
People will hear a noise on the barren hilltops. It will be the noise made by people weeping and pleading [for God to be merciful to them]. They will be admitting/saying that they have forgotten Yahweh their God, and that they turned away from behaving as God wanted them to.
22 O yee disobedient children, returne and I wil heale your rebellions. Behold, we come vnto thee, for thou art the Lord our God.
Yahweh will say to them, “You Israeli people, come back to me! [If you do that], I will cause you to never turn away from me again.” [The people will reply], “We are returning to you, because you are Yahweh, our God.
23 Truely the hope of the hilles is but vaine, nor the multitude of mountaines: but in the Lord our God is the health of Israel.
We did not get any help from [the idols that we worshiped on] the hilltops; we did not get any help from making all that noise up there.
24 For confusion hath deuoured our fathers labour, from our youth their sheepe and their bullocks, their sonnes and their daughters.
From the time when we were young, the shameful [god Baal] has taken away [from us] everything that our ancestors worked hard to acquire. He has taken away their flocks [of sheep] and herds [of cattle], their sons and their daughters.
25 Wee lie downe in our confusion, and our shame couereth vs: for we haue sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers from our youth, euen vnto this day, and haue not obeyed the voyce of the Lord our God.
So, now we should lie down feeling very ashamed [DOU], because we and our ancestors have sinned against Yahweh our God, and we have never obeyed him.”
