2 Chronicles 36:15-16

The Babylonians Destroy Jerusalem

36:15 The Lord God of their ancestors ¹  continually warned them through his messengers, ²  for he felt compassion for his people and his dwelling place. 36:16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his warnings, ³  and ridiculed his prophets. ⁴  Finally the Lord got very angry at his people and there was no one who could prevent his judgment. ⁵ 

Jeremiah 3:8-11

3:8 She also saw ⁶  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ⁷  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ⁸  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁹  3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ¹⁰  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ¹¹  3:10 In spite of all this, ¹²  Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” ¹³  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. ¹⁴ 

Hosea 4:15

Warning to Judah: Do Not Join in Israel’s Apostasy!

4:15 Although you, O Israel, commit adultery,

do not let Judah become guilty!

Do not journey to Gilgal!

Do not go up to Beth Aven! ¹⁵ 

Do not swear, “As surely as the Lord lives!”

¹ tn Heb “fathers.”

² tn Heb “and the Lord God of their fathers sent against them by the hand of his messengers, getting up early and sending.”

³ tn Heb “his words.”

⁴ tn All three verbal forms (“mocked,” “despised,” and “ridiculed”) are active participles in the Hebrew text, indicating continual or repeated action. They made a habit of rejecting God’s prophetic messengers.

⁵ tn Heb “until the anger of the Lord went up against his people until there was no healer.”

⁶ tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads “I saw” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.

⁷ tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.

⁸ tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.

⁹ tn 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 prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.

¹⁰ tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.

¹¹ tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”

¹² tn Heb “And even in all this.”

¹³ tn Heb “ has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “Wayward Israel has proven herself to be more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”

¹⁵ sn Beth Aven means “house of wickedness” in Hebrew; it is a polemic reference to “Bethel,” which means “house of God.” Cf. CEV “at sinful Bethel.”