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.

“[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 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.

“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 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.

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 Hast thou not from this time, cried unto me, My father! the friend of my youth, art, thou?

Now each of you says to me, ‘You are my father! You have loved me ever since I was young!

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!

So surely you will not [RHQ] be angry with me forever!’ But you will not quit sinning!”

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.

[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 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!

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 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.

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 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,

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 yet, in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah returned not unto me, with all her heart, —but, falsely, Declareth Yahweh.

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 Then said Yahweh unto me, —Apostate Israel, hath justified herself, —more than treacherous Judah.

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 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.

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 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.

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 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;

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 will give you shepherds according to mine own heart, —who will feed you with knowledge and discretion.

[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 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 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, 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 indeed [as] a wife goeth treacherously from her husband, so, have ye acted treacherously with me, O house of Israel, Declareth Yahweh.

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 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.

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 Return ye apostate sons, I will heal your apostasies! Behold us! we have come unto thee, For thou, art Yahweh 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 Surely, to falsehood, pertain the hills The noisy throng on the mountains, —Surely, in Yahweh our God, is the salvation 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 But, the Shameful thing, hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth: Their flocks, and their herds, their sons 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 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.

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.”