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Text -- Jeremiah 3:1-23 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again . Doing that would utterly defile the land . But you , Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods . So what makes you think you can return to me?” says the Lord .
3:2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert . You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.
3:3 That is why the rains have been withheld , and the spring rains have not come . Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute . You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father ! You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young .
3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you? You will not be mad at me forever , will you?’ That is what you say , but you continually do all the evil that you can .”
3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done . You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods.
3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not . Her sister , unfaithful Judah , saw what she did.
3:8 She also saw that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, she still was not afraid , and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods.
3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone .
3:10 In spite of all this , Israel’s sister , unfaithful Judah , has not turned back to me with any sincerity ; she has only pretended to do so,” says the Lord .
3:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah .
The Lord Calls on Israel and Judah to Repent
3:12 “Go and shout this message to my people in the countries in the north . Tell them, ‘Come back to me, wayward Israel ,’ says the Lord . ‘I will not continue to look on you with displeasure . For I am merciful ,’ says the Lord . ‘I will not be angry with you forever .
3:13 However , you must confess that you have done wrong , and that you have rebelled against the Lord your God . You must confess that you have given yourself to foreign gods under every green tree , and have not obeyed my commands,’ says the Lord .
3:14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons ,” says the Lord , “for I am your true master . If you do, I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group , and I will bring you back to Zion .
3:15 I will give you leaders who will be faithful to me. They will lead you with knowledge and insight .
3:16 In those days, your population will greatly increase in the land . At that time ,” says the Lord , “people will no longer talk about having the ark that contains the Lord’s covenant with us. They will not call it to mind , remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done any more !
3:17 At that time the city of Jerusalem will be called the Lord’s throne . All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the Lord’s name . They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts .
3:18 At that time the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited . Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession.”
3:19 “I thought to myself, ‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son ! What a joy it would be for me to give you a pleasant land , the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world !’ I thought you would call me, ‘Father ’ and would never cease being loyal to me.
3:20 But , you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel , like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband ,” says the Lord .
3:21 “A noise is heard on the hilltops . It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods. Indeed they have followed sinful ways ; they have forgotten to be true to the Lord their God .
3:22 Come back to me, you wayward people . I want to cure your waywardness . Say, ‘Here we are. We come to you because you are the Lord our God .
3:23 We know our noisy worship of false gods on the hills and mountains did not help us. We know that the Lord our God is the only one who can deliver Israel .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
God |
Church |
Kidron |
Backsliders |
Marriage |
Condescension of God |
Idolatry |
Repentance |
EZEKIEL, 1 |
Israel |
Jesus, The Christ |
FOREHEAD |
Adultery |
Impenitence |
GODS |
Husband |
HARLOT |
HEIGHT; HEIGHTS |
Divorce |
Hypocrisy |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Jer 3:1; Jer 3:1; Jer 3:1; Jer 3:1; Jer 3:1; Jer 3:2; Jer 3:2; Jer 3:2; Jer 3:2; Jer 3:3; Jer 3:4; Jer 3:5; Jer 3:5; Jer 3:6; Jer 3:6; Jer 3:7; Jer 3:7; Jer 3:7; Jer 3:8; Jer 3:8; Jer 3:8; Jer 3:8; Jer 3:9; Jer 3:9; Jer 3:10; Jer 3:10; Jer 3:11; Jer 3:11; Jer 3:12; Jer 3:12; Jer 3:13; Jer 3:13; Jer 3:13; Jer 3:13; Jer 3:14; Jer 3:14; Jer 3:14; Jer 3:15; Jer 3:15; Jer 3:16; Jer 3:16; Jer 3:16; Jer 3:16; Jer 3:17; Jer 3:17; Jer 3:17; Jer 3:18; Jer 3:18; Jer 3:18; Jer 3:19; Jer 3:19; Jer 3:19; Jer 3:19; Jer 3:19; Jer 3:19; Jer 3:19; Jer 3:20; Jer 3:20; Jer 3:21; Jer 3:21; Jer 3:22; Jer 3:22; Jer 3:23; Jer 3:23
NET Notes: Jer 3:1 Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!...
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NET Notes: Jer 3:2 Heb “by your prostitution and your wickedness.” This is probably an example of hendiadys where, when two nouns are joined by “and,...
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NET Notes: Jer 3:4 Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.
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NET Notes: Jer 3:5 Heb “You do the evil and you are able.” This is an example of hendiadys, meaning “You do all the evil that you are able to do.”...
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NET Notes: Jer 3:6 Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a...
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NET Notes: Jer 3:7 The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
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NET Notes: Jer 3:8 Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a...
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NET Notes: Jer 3:9 Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
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NET Notes: Jer 3:11 A comparison is drawn here between the greater culpability of Judah, who has had the advantage of seeing how God disciplined her sister nation for hav...
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NET Notes: Jer 3:13 Heb “scattered your ways with foreign [gods]” or “spread out your breasts to strangers.”
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NET Notes: Jer 3:14 The words, “If you do” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection of the Hebrew verb with the preceding.
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NET Notes: Jer 3:21 Heb “have forgotten the Lord their God,” but in the view of the parallelism and the context, the word “forget” (like “kn...
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NET Notes: Jer 3:22 Or “They say.” There is an obvious ellipsis of a verb of saying here since the preceding words are those of the Lord and the following are...
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