Old Testament · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 3

The Wages of the Harlot

1Saying, If a man^a sends away his wife^b, and she goes from him, and becomes another man's, will he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many companions; yet return to me, declares the LORD.
2Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see: where have you not been lain with? By the ways you sat for them, like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you polluted the land with your harlotries and with your wickedness.
3And the showers were withheld, and there has been no latter rain; yet you had a harlot's forehead, you refused to be ashamed.
4Have you not just now called to me, My father, you are the friend of my youth?
5Will he keep his anger forever? Will he watch it to the end? Behold, you have spoken, but you have done the evil things, and have had your way.

Judah Follows Israel’s Example

6And the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up upon every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and there she played the harlot. 7And I said, After she has done all these things, she will return to me; but she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

8And I saw, when, for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had sent her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she also went and played the harlot. 9And it came to pass, through the lightness of her harlotry, that she polluted the land, and committed adultery with the stone and with the tree. 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but in falsehood, declares the LORD.

A Call to Repentance

(Hosea 14:1–3; Zechariah 1:1–6)

11And the LORD said to me, Backsliding Israel has justified her soul^c more than treacherous Judah. 12Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, backsliding Israel, declares the LORD; I will not cause my face to fall upon you, for I am merciful, declares the LORD, I will not keep anger forever.

13Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every leafy tree, and you have not listened to my voice, declares the LORD.

14Return, O backsliding children, declares the LORD; for I am a master over you; and I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

16And it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant^d of the LORD; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they miss it; neither shall it be made any more.

17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

19And I said, How I would set you among the sons, and give you a desirable land, a heritage of the beauty of the hosts of nations! And I said, You shall call me, My father, and shall not turn back from following me.
20Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her companion, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, declares the LORD.
21A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping of the supplications of the children of Israel; for they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.
22Return, O backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we have come to you; for you are the LORD our God.
23Surely in vain is the help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains; surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24But the shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for against the LORD our God we have sinned, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day; and we have not listened to the voice of the LORD our God.