Jeremiah 3
1 “[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.
It is said, if a man put away his wife, And she go from him, and become another man's, Shall he return to her again? Shall not that land be polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; And shalt thou return to me, saith Jehovah?
2 “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.
Lift up thine eyes to the high places, and see! Where hast thou not been defiled? In the ways hast thou sat waiting, As the Arabian in the desert, And hast polluted the land by thy lewdness and thy wickedness.
3 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].
And although the showers have been withholden, And there hath been no latter rain, Yet thou hast had a harlot's forehead; Thou hast refused to be ashamed.
4 Now each of you says to me, ‘You are my father! You have loved me ever since I was young!
Wilt thou not from this time cry to me, Thou art my father, Yea, the friend of my youth art thou?
5 So surely you will not [RHQ] be angry with me forever!’ But you will not quit sinning!”
Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it forevermore? Behold, thus dost thou speak, But thou doest evil with all thy might.
6 [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].
Jehovah said to me, in the time of King Josiah, Hast thou heard what rebellious Israel hath done? She hath gone upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
7 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].
And I said, after she had done all these things, Return thou to me! But she returned not. And her faithless sister Judah saw it.
8 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].
And I saw, when, for all the adulteries which rebellious Israel had committed, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce, that her faithless sister Judah was not afraid, but went and played the harlot also herself.
9 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.
And when by the fame of her lewdness she had polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and wood,
10 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.”
yet for all this did not her faithless sister Judah return to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.
11 Then Yahweh said to me, “The people of Israel have turned away from me, but what the people of Judah have done is worse.
Then said Jehovah to me, Rebellious Israel is less guilty than faithless Judah.
12 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.
Go and proclaim these words toward the north: —Return, O rebellious Israel, saith Jehovah! I will not turn a frowning face upon you; For I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I retain not anger forever.
13 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.
Only acknowledge thine iniquity, That thou hast rebelled against Jehovah thy God, And hast roved about to strangers Under every green tree, And hast not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah.
14 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].
Return, ye rebellious children! saith Jehovah; Though I have rejected you, Yet will I receive you again, One from a city, and two from a nation, And I will bring you to Zion.
15 [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].
And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, Who shall feed you with wisdom and discretion.
16 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.
And when ye shall have multiplied and increased in the land, saith Jehovah, Then shall ye no more speak of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, Nor shall it come into your mind. None shall remember it; None shall care for it; It shall not be made any more.
17 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.
For then shall Jerusalem be called the throne of Jehovah, And all the nations shall resort to it; They shall resort to Jehovah, to Jerusalem, And shall no more walk after the perverseness of their evil hearts.
18 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].
In those days shall the house of Judah unite themselves with the house of Israel, And they shall come together from the north country, To the land which I caused your fathers to inherit.
19 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.
Then I said, how will I place thee among my children, And give thee a pleasant land, A goodly inheritance among the hosts of nations! And I said, Thou wilt call me thy father; Thou wilt not turn aside from following me.
20 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.
Yet as a woman is faithless to her husband, So have ye been faithless to me, O house of Israel! saith Jehovah.
21 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.
A voice is heard upon the hills, The weeping and supplications of the children of Israel! For they have perverted their way; They have forgotten Jehovah their God.
22 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.
Return, O revolted children! I will heal your rebellion. Behold, we come to thee, For thou art Jehovah our God!
23 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.
Truly in vain from the hills, In vain from the mountains do we seek abundance; Only from Jehovah our God cometh salvation for Israel.
24 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.
For the things of shame have devoured the substance of our fathers from our youth, Their sheep and their oxen, Their sons and their daughters.
25 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.”
We lie down in our shame, And our ignominy covereth us; For we have sinned against Jehovah our God, We and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, And have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
