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.
“If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her again? Would that land not be greatly polluted? You have lived as a prostitute who has many lovers; and would you return to me?—this is Yahweh's declaration.
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 your eyes to the barren heights and look! Is there any place where you have not had illicit sex? By the roadsides you sat waiting for your lovers, as an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and 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].
So the showers have been withheld and the spring rains have not come; yet you have the forehead of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Now each of you says to me, ‘You are my father! You have loved me ever since I was young!
Have you not just now called to me: 'My father! My closest friend even from my youth!
5 So surely you will not [RHQ] be angry with me forever!’ But you will not quit sinning!”
Will he always be angry? Will he always keep his wrath to the end?' Look! This is what you have said, but you do all the evil you can!”
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].
Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Do you see what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up every high hill and under every leafy tree, and there she has acted like a prostitute.
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].
I said, 'After she does all these things, she will return to me,' but she did not return. Then her faithless sister Judah saw these things.
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].
So I saw that, in the same way that faithless Israel had committed adultery and I had sent her away and had given a bill of divorce against her, her faithless sister Judah did not fear; she also went out and acted like a prostitute.
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.
Her prostitution was nothing to her; she defiled the land, and she committed adultery with stones and trees.
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.”
Then after all of this, her faithless sister Judah returned to me, not with all her heart, but with a lie—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
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 Yahweh said to me, “Faithless Israel has been more righteous 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 to the north. Say, 'Return, faithless Israel!—this is Yahweh's declaration—I will not always be angry with you. Since I am faithful—this is Yahweh's declaration—I will not stay angry 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.
Acknowledge your iniquity, for you have transgressed against Yahweh your God; you have shared your ways with strangers under every leafy tree! For you have not listened to my voice!—this is Yahweh's declaration.
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, faithless people!—this is Yawheh's declaration—I am your husband! I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, 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].
I will give you shepherds after my heart, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and insight.
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.
Then it will happen that you will increase and bear fruit in the land in those days—this is Yahweh's declaration-they will no longer say, “The ark of the covenant of Yahweh!” This matter will no longer come up in their hearts or be remembered; it will not be missed, and another one will not be made.'
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.
In that time they will proclaim about Jerusalem, 'This is Yahweh's throne,' and all the other nations will gather at Jerusalem in Yahweh's name. They will no longer walk in the stubbornness of their wicked 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, the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel. They will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
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.
As for me, I said, 'How I want to treat you as my son and give you a pleasant land, an inheritance more beautiful than what is in any other nation!' I would have said, 'You will call me “my father”.' I would have said that you would not turn 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.
But like a woman faithless to her husband, you have betrayed me, house of Israel—this is Yahweh's declaration.”
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 on the plains, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel! For they have changed their ways; they have forgotten Yahweh 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, faithless people! I will heal you of treachery!” “Behold! We will come to you, for you are Yahweh 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.
Surely lies come from the hills, a confusing noise from the mountains; surely Yahweh our God is the salvation of 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.
Yet shameful idols have consumed what our ancestors have worked for— their flocks and cattle, their sons and 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.”
Let us lie down in shame. May our shame cover us, for we have sinned against Yahweh our God! We ourselves and our ancestors, from the time of our youthfulness to this present day, have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God!”
