Jeremiah 3:4

3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! ¹ 

You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.

Jeremiah 3:19

3:19 “I thought to myself, ² 

‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! ³ 

What a joy it would be for me to give ⁴  you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ ⁵ 

I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ ⁶ 

and would never cease being loyal to me. ⁷ 

¹ tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.

² tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

³ tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the Lord’s wife (see the next verse). The pronouns of address in the first two lines are second feminine singular as are the readings of the two verbs preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere readings) in the third and fourth lines. The verbs that are written in the text in the third and fourth lines (the Kethib readings) are second masculine plural as is the verb describing Israel’s treachery in the next verse.

⁴ tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.

⁵ tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”

⁶ tn Heb “my father.”

⁷ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”