Jeremiah 3:6

3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. ¹  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. ² 

Jeremiah 3:8

3:8 She also saw ³  that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ⁴  Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ⁵  she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 3:11

3:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah. ⁷ 

¹ tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.

² 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.

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.

⁵ 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.

⁶ 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.

⁷ tn Heb “Wayward Israel has proven herself to be more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”