1 “Saying, Behold, one sends his wife away, || And she has gone from him, || And she has been to another man, || Does he return to her again? Is that land not greatly defiled? And you have committed whoredom with many lovers, || And turn to Me again,” || A declaration of YHWH. 2 “Lift your eyes to the high places, and see, || Where have you not been lain with? You have sat for them on the ways, || As an Arab in a wilderness, || And you defile the land, || By your fornications, and by your wickedness. 3 And showers are withheld, and there has been no spring rain. You have the forehead of a whorish woman, || You have refused to be ashamed. 4 Have you not from now on called to Me, || My Father, You [are] the leader of my youth? 5 Does He keep for all time? Watch forever? Behold, you have spoken these things, || And you do evil, and prevail.” 6 And YHWH says to me, in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She is going on every high mountain, and to the place of every green tree, and commits fornication there. 7 And I say, after her doing all these, Return to Me, and she has not returned, and her treacherous sister Judah sees it. 8 And I see that for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery, I have sent her away, and I give the bill of her divorce to her; and her treacherous sister Judah has not feared, and goes and commits fornication—she also. 9 And it has come to pass, from the vileness of her fornication, that the land is defiled, and she commits fornication with stone and with wood. 10 And even in all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned back to Me with all her heart, but with falsehood,” a declaration of YHWH. 11 And YHWH says to me: “Backsliding Israel has justified herself, || More than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and you have proclaimed these words toward the north, and have said, Return, O backsliding Israel,” || A declaration of YHWH! “I do not cause My anger to fall on you, for I [am] kind,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “I do not watch for all time. 13 Only, know your iniquity, || For you have transgressed against your God YHWH, || And you scatter your ways to strangers, || Under every green tree, || And you have not listened to My voice,” || A declaration of YHWH. 14 “Return, O backsliding sons,” || A declaration of YHWH. “For I have ruled over you, || And taken you—one from a city, and two from a family, || And have brought you to Zion, 15 And I have given shepherds to you || According to My own heart, || And they have fed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And it has come to pass, when you are multiplied, || And have been fruitful in the land, || In those days,” || A declaration of YHWH, || “They no longer say, The Ark of the Covenant of YHWH, || Nor does it go up on the heart, || Nor do they remember concerning it, || Nor do they inspect, nor is it made again. 17 At that time they cry to Jerusalem, O throne of YHWH, || And all the nations have been gathered to her, || For the Name of YHWH, to Jerusalem, || Nor do they go after the stubbornness of their evil heart anymore. 18 In those days the house of Judah || Goes to the house of Israel, || And they come together from the land of the south, || To the land that I caused your fathers to inherit. 19 And I have said, How do I put you among the sons, || And give a desirable land to you, || A beautiful inheritance of the hosts of nations, || And I say, You call Me—My Father, || And you do not turn back from after Me. 20 But a woman has deceived her friend, || So you have dealt treacherously with Me, || O house of Israel,” || A declaration of YHWH. 21 A voice is heard on high places—weeping, || Supplications of the sons of Israel, || For they have made their way perverse, || They have forgotten their God YHWH. 22 “Return, O backsliding sons, || I cause your backslidings to cease.” “Behold us, we have come to You, || For You [are] our God YHWH. 23 Surely in vain—from the heights, || The multitude of mountains—Surely the salvation of Israel [is] in our God YHWH. 24 And the shameful thing has devoured || The labor of our fathers from our youth, || Their flock and their herd, || Their sons and their daughters. 25 We have lain down in our shame, and our confusion covers us, || For we have sinned against our God YHWH, || We, and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, || Nor have we listened to the voice of our God YHWH!”
Jeremiah · Literal Standard Version
Jeremiah 3 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (25)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Deuteronomy 24:1–4; Ezekiel 16:26; Jeremiah 4:1; Ezekiel 23:4–49; Jeremiah 2:20
- 2 Ezekiel 16:24–25; Genesis 38:14; Jeremiah 2:7; Ezekiel 8:4–6; Jeremiah 2:20
- 3 Leviticus 26:19; Jeremiah 5:24; Jeremiah 14:22; Amos 4:7; Deuteronomy 28:23
- 4 Jeremiah 2:2; Jeremiah 3:19; Jeremiah 31:9; Proverbs 2:17; Hosea 2:15
- 5 Ezekiel 22:6; Jeremiah 3:12; Isaiah 57:16; Micah 2:1; Micah 7:3
- 6 Ezekiel 16:31; 2 Kings 17:7–17; 1 Kings 14:23; Jeremiah 3:8; Jeremiah 3:11–14
- 7 Ezekiel 16:46; 2 Chronicles 30:6–12; Hosea 14:1; 2 Kings 17:13–14; Hosea 6:1–4
- 8 Deuteronomy 24:1; 2 Kings 18:9–11; Hosea 2:2–3; Isaiah 50:1; Hosea 3:4
- 9 Jeremiah 2:27; Isaiah 57:6; Jeremiah 3:2; Habakkuk 2:19; Jeremiah 10:8
- 10 Hosea 7:14; Jeremiah 12:2; Psalm 18:44; Isaiah 10:6; 2 Chronicles 34:33–35:18
- 11 Ezekiel 23:11; Ezekiel 16:51–52; Hosea 11:7; Ezekiel 16:47; Hosea 4:16
- 12 Psalm 86:15; Ezekiel 33:11; Deuteronomy 4:29–31; Jeremiah 3:22; Micah 7:18–20
- 13 Jeremiah 3:25; Deuteronomy 30:1–3; Deuteronomy 12:2; Jeremiah 3:6; Jeremiah 2:25
- 14 Hosea 2:19–20; Jeremiah 2:19; Jeremiah 31:32; Isaiah 54:5; Ezekiel 34:11–14
- 15 Jeremiah 23:4; Acts 20:28; Ephesians 4:11–12; Ezekiel 34:23; John 21:15–17
- 16 Amos 9:14–15; Ezekiel 37:26; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:1–2; Hosea 1:10–11
- 17 Ezekiel 43:7; Micah 4:1–5; Jeremiah 17:12; Zechariah 2:11; Zechariah 8:20–23
- 18 Jeremiah 31:8; Amos 9:15; Jeremiah 23:8; Hosea 1:11; Jeremiah 50:4
- 19 Jeremiah 3:4; Romans 8:15–17; Jeremiah 31:9; Isaiah 63:16; 1 John 3:1–3
- 20 Isaiah 48:8; Jeremiah 5:11; Jeremiah 3:8–10; Malachi 2:11; Hosea 5:7
- 21 2 Corinthians 7:10; Jeremiah 3:2; Jeremiah 31:9; Jeremiah 2:32; Isaiah 17:10
- 22 Hosea 14:4; Hosea 14:1; Zechariah 13:9; Jeremiah 30:17; Hosea 6:1–2
- 23 Psalm 121:1–2; Psalm 3:8; Isaiah 12:2; John 4:22; Hosea 1:7
- 24 Hosea 9:10; Jeremiah 11:13; Ezekiel 16:61; Hosea 2:8; Ezekiel 16:63
- 25 Jeremiah 22:21; Lamentations 5:16; Proverbs 5:13; Ezekiel 7:18; Jeremiah 2:26
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Hear what God saith unto Jerusalem, "I said, after she had committed all these whoredoms, Turn thou unto me, and she returned not." When we have come back unto the earnest love of God, He remembers not the former things.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Which He doth in the prophets also, using these words, "I said, Turn thou unto me, and she returned not." Then having called her, He tells also her blood-stained deeds, "Thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not," in this way also …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)