Jeremiah 3
1 He hath said, If a man send away his wife, and she go from him and become another man’s, will he return unto her, again? would not that land be, utterly defiled? And, thou, hast been unchaste with many neighbours, and yet [thinkest] to return unto me! Declareth Yahweh.
“It is commonly said: ‘If a man has divorced his wife, and she departs from him, she will marry another man.’ So why would he return to her again? Is not that woman polluted and defiled? But you have fornicated yourself with many lovers. Even so, return to me, says the Lord, and I will accept you.
2 Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights and see—where thou hast not been unchastely embraced! beside the ways, hast thou sat to them, like the Arabian in the desert, —and hast defiled the land with thine unchastities, and with thy wickedness.
Lift your eyes straight up, and see where you did not debase yourself. You were sitting in the roadways, waiting for them, like a robber in the wilderness. And you have polluted the land by your fornications and by your wickedness.
3 Therefore have been withholden the showers, And, the latter rain, hath not come, —Yet the forehead of an unchaste woman, hast thou, Thou hast refused to be ashamed.
For this reason, the rain showers were withheld, and there were no late season rains. You made your face like that of a promiscuous woman; you were not willing to blush.
4 Hast thou not from this time, cried unto me, My father! the friend of my youth, art, thou?
Therefore, at least from this moment on, call out to me: ‘You are my father, the guide of my virginity.’
5 Will he maintain his anger to times age-abiding? Will he keep it perpetually? Lo! thou hast spoken thus but hast done wicked things and had thy way!
Why should you be angry unceasingly? And will you continue in this to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil, for you were able to do so.”
6 And Yahweh said unto me, in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen what apostate Israel, did? She used to go upon every high mountain and beneath every green tree, and commit unchastity there.
And, in the days of king Josiah, the Lord said to me: “Have you not seen what the apostate Israel has done? She has brought herself up to every lofty mountain, and she has lain down under every leafy tree, and she has committed fornication there.
7 And I said, after she had been doing all these things, Unto me, shall thou return? and she returned not, —and her treacherous sister Judah saw it!
And when she had done all these things, I said: ‘Return to me.’ But she did not return. And her deceitful sister Judah saw this:
8 Though she saw that for all this, apostate Israel having committed adultery, I had sent her away, and had given a scroll of divorcement unto her, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but, she also, went and committed unchastity.
that because the apostate Israel had committed adultery, I had dismissed her and had given her a bill of divorce. Yet her deceitful sister Judah was not afraid. But she, too, went and committed fornication herself.
9 Yea though it had come to pass that through the levity of her unchastity, she had defiled the land, —and committed adultery with Stone and with Tree,
And by the act of her fornication, she defiled the land. For she committed adultery with that which is stone and wood.
10 yet, in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah returned not unto me, with all her heart, —but, falsely, Declareth Yahweh.
And after all these things, her deceitful sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but with lies, says the Lord.”
11 Then said Yahweh unto me, —Apostate Israel, hath justified herself, —more than treacherous Judah.
And the Lord said to me: “The apostate Israel has justified her own soul by comparing herself to the deceitful Judah.
12 Go, and proclaim these words, towards the North and say—Return! thou apostate—Israel, Urgeth Yahweh, I will not lower my face against you, —for full of lovingkindness, I am, Declareth Yahweh, I will not maintain [mine anger] unto times age-abiding.
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and you shall say: Return, O apostate Israel, says the Lord. For I will not avert my face from you. For I am holy, says the Lord, and I will not be angry forever.
13 Only, acknowledge thine iniquity, that against Yahweh thy God, hast thou transgressed, —and hast gone hither and thither unto foreigners under every green tree, and unto my voice, ye have not hearkened Declareth Yahweh.
So then, truly acknowledge your iniquity, that you have betrayed the Lord your God, and that you have spread your ways to strangers, under every leafy tree, and that you have not listened to my voice, says the Lord.
14 Return, ye apostate sons, Urgeth Yahweh, for, I, am become your husband, —therefore will I take you one of a city, and two of a family, and will bring you to Zion;
Convert, O rebellious sons, says the Lord. For I am your leader. And so, I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will lead you into Zion.
15 and will give you shepherds according to mine own heart, —who will feed you with knowledge and discretion.
And I will give you pastors according to my own heart. And they will feed you with knowledge and doctrine.
16 And it shall come to pass when ye shall be multiplied and become fruitful in the land, in those days, Declareth Yahweh, They shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Yahweh, Neither shall it come up on the heart, Neither shall they remember it, Neither shall they miss it, Neither shall it be made any more.
And when you have been multiplied and increased in the land in those days, says the Lord, they will no longer say: ‘The Ark of the covenant of the Lord!’ And it will not enter into the heart, and they will not call it to mind. It will neither be visited, nor made use of, any longer.
17 At that time, shall they call Jerusalem, The throne of Yahweh, and there shall be gathered unto her all the nations—to the Name of Yahweh, to Jerusalem; and they shall walk no more after the stubbornness of their own wicked heart.
In that time, Jerusalem will be called: ‘The Throne of the Lord.’ And all the nations will be gathered to it, in the name of the Lord, in Jerusalem. And they will not walk after the depravity of their own most wicked heart.
18 In those days, shall the house of Judah go unto the house of Israel, —that they may enter together out of the land of the North, upon the land which I gave as an inheritance unto your fathers.
In those days, the house of Judah will go to the house of Israel, and they will come from the land of the north, at the same time, to the land that I gave to your fathers.
19 Though, I myself, had said, —How can I put thee among the sons, And give thee a land to be coveted, An inheritance of beauty, of the hosts of nations? Yet I said, My father, shalt thou call me, And away from me, shalt thou not turn.
But I said: How shall I place you among the sons, and distribute to you a desirable land, the preeminent inheritance of the host of the Gentiles? And I said: You will call me Father, and you will not cease to walk after me.
20 But indeed [as] a wife goeth treacherously from her husband, so, have ye acted treacherously with me, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh.
But, in the same way that a woman spurns her lover, so also has the house of Israel spurned me, says the Lord.”
21 A voice on the bare heights, is heard, The weeping of the supplications of the sons of Israel, —Because they have perverted their way, Have forgotten Yahweh their God.
A voice has been heard in the highways, the weeping and wailing of the sons of Israel. For they have made their own ways sinful; they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 Return ye apostate sons, I will heal your apostasies! Behold us! we have come unto thee, For thou, art Yahweh our God.
“Convert, O rebellious sons! And I will heal your rebelliousness.” “Behold, we are returning to you. For you are the Lord our God!
23 Surely, to falsehood, pertain the hills The noisy throng on the mountains, —Surely, in Yahweh our God, is the salvation of Israel!
Truly, the hills were liars, with the multitude of the mountains. Truly, the salvation of Israel is in the Lord our God.
24 But, the Shameful thing, hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: Their flocks, and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Confusion has devoured the labor of our fathers, from our youth, with their flocks and their herds, with their sons and their daughters.
25 We must lie down in our shame And our reproach, be our covering, For, against Yahweh our God, have we sinned, We and our fathers, from our youth even until this day, —Neither have we hearkened unto the voice of Yahweh our God.
We will sleep in our confusion, and our disgrace will cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God: we and our fathers, from our youth, even to this day. And we have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God.”
