UST GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG ISA JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

JER C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52

UST by section JER 3:1

⌂ ← JER 3:1–3:25 → ║ ═ ©

Jeremiah 3

3 “Moses wrote that if a man divorces his wife and then she marries another man,

her first husband certainly must not take her back again to be his wife,

because that would certainly cause the whole nation to become unacceptable to me.

This nation is like this woman.

Instead of being faithful to me you have been like a prostitute who has had sex with many men.

Because you have been like a prostitute it makes me not want to accept you if you return to me.

This is what I, Yahweh, declare. 2 “Look up at the barren hilltops.

On every hilltop you have worshiped idols.

It is as though you have sat along the roadsides like a prostitute waiting to have sex with those who pass by.

It is as though you have sat along the roadsides like an Arab, waiting to attack and steal things from those who pass by.

Because of worshiping idols and all the other wicked things that you have done, you have caused the entire land to become unacceptable to me.

3 That is why I have not sent you any rain at the times of the year when you needed it.

But you are like prostitutes

who are not at all ashamed for what they have done.

4 Now each of you says to me, ‘You are my father!

You have loved me ever since I was young!

5 So surely Yahweh will not be angry with me forever!’

This is what you have said,

but you keep on sinning as much as you can!”

6 One day when Josiah was the king of Judah, Yahweh said to me, “Have you seen what the people of Israel have done? They have turned away from me, like a woman who has abandoned her husband and sleeps with other men. They have gone up on every hilltop and under every green tree and worshiped idols there. 7 I thought that after they did all these things they would return to me, but they did not. And the treacherous people of Judah, who also descended from their forefather Jacob, were watching all of this. 8 I observed that it was because the unfaithful people of Israel worshiped idols that I sent them away as captives, as a man writes a note saying that he is divorcing his wife and then sends her away because she has committed adultery. The people of Judah, who also descended from Jacob, acted treacherously towards me like the people of Israel, and they did not respect me, and were unfaithful to me like a woman who abandons her husband and goes searching for other men to have sex with. 9 They took the sin of worshiping idols lightly, so they have made the entire land unacceptable to me by worshiping idols made of stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, the treacherous people of Judah, who also descended from Jacob, have not sincerely returned to me, but they have only pretended to. This is true because I, Yahweh, have said it.”

11 Then Yahweh said to me, “The people of Israel have turned away from me, but what the treacherous people of Judah have done is worse. 12 Go and tell this to the people of Israel,

‘Yahweh says this to you Israelite people who have turned away from him:

I am merciful.

I will not continue to be angry with you forever.

So return to me.

13 But you must admit that you are guilty,

and have rebelled against me, Yahweh, your God,

that you have worshiped idols under green trees everywhere,

and you have not obeyed me.

This is what I, Yahweh, declare. 14 Begin loving and obeying me again, my unfaithful people,

because you belong to me!

I will take you, one from a city and two from a family from the countries from which you were exiled,

and bring you back to Jerusalem.

15 If you do that, I will appoint for you leaders with whom I am pleased,

leaders who will guide you well because they will know and understand what pleases me.

16 And when you become very numerous in your land,

you will not need to talk about the Sacred Chest of Yahweh that contained the Ten Commandments.

You will not think about it or remember it,

and you will not want to make a new one.

17 At that time people will say that I rule from Jerusalem.

People from all nations will come there to worship me,

and they will no longer stubbornly do the evil things that they desire in their inner beings.

18 At that time the people of Judah and the people of Israel will return from their exile in lands to the northeast.

They will return to the land that I gave to their ancestors to posses.

19 I, Yahweh, wanted to make you people of Israel, like children to me.

I wanted to give you this delightful land.

It is a land more desirable than the land of any other nation!

I wanted you to call me your father,

and I wanted you to never stop obeying me.

20 Surely you people of Israel have abandoned me like wives who have abandoned their husbands.”

That is what Yahweh said.

21 People will hear a noise on the barren hilltops.

It will be the noise made by the people of Israel weeping and pleading for God to be merciful to them.

They will be admitting that they stopped paying attention to Yahweh their God,

and that they stopped behaving as God wanted them to.

22 Yahweh will say to them, “You Israelite people, start loving and obeying me again!

If you do that, I will cause you to no longer be unfaithful to me.”

The people will reply, “Yes indeed, we will begin loving and obeying you again,

because you are Yahweh, our God.

23 Surely we did not get any help from the idols we worshiped on the hills;

we did not get any help from making all that noise on the mountains.

Surely, only Yahweh our God is the only one who can rescue us Israelite people!

24 From the time when we were young, the shameful god Baal has taken away from us everything that our ancestors worked hard to acquire.

He has taken away their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, their sons and their daughters.

25 So, now we should lie down feeling very ashamed,

because we and our ancestors have sinned against Yahweh our God,

and we have not obeyed him at any time.”