Jer 3 | NASB1995 | STEP | God says , “ If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man , Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted ? But you are a harlot with many lovers ; Yet you turn to Me,” declares the Lord .

‏ Jeremiah 3

The Polluted Land

1 God ^{▼▼ Lit saying}says, ^b“If a husband divorces his wife
And she goes from him
And belongs to another man,
Will he still return to her?
Will not that land be completely ^{▼▼ Or alienated}polluted?
But you ^dare a harlot with many ^{▼▼ Lit companions}lovers;
Yet you ^fturn to Me,” declares the Lord.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the ^gbare heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
By the roads you have ^hsat for them
Like an Arab in the desert,
And you have ⁱpolluted a land
With your harlotry and with your wickedness.
3 “Therefore the ^jshowers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a ^kharlot’s forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.
4 “Have you not just now called to Me,
‘ ^lMy Father, You are the ^{▼▼ Lit leader
,} ⁿfriend of my ^oyouth?
5 ‘ ^pWill He be angry forever?
Will He ^{▼▼ Lit keep it}be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have ^{▼▼ Lit been able}had your way.”

Faithless Israel

6 Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She ^swent up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. 7 ^t“I ^{▼▼ Lit said}thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her ^vtreacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 “And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and ^wgiven her a writ of divorce, yet her ^xtreacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. 9 “Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she ^ypolluted the land and committed adultery with ^zstones and trees. 10 “Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in ^aadeception,” declares the Lord.

God Invites Repentance

11 And the Lord said to me, ^ab“Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 “Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, ‘ ^acReturn, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘ ^adI will not ^{▼▼ Lit cause My countenance to fall}look upon you in anger.
For I am ^afgracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 ‘Only ^{▼▼ Lit know
,} ^ahacknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the Lord your God
And have ^aiscattered your ^{▼▼ Lit ways}favors to the strangers ^akunder every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
14 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘For I am a ^almaster to you,
And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,
And ^amI will bring you to Zion.’

15 “Then I will give you ^anshepherds after My own heart, who will ^aofeed you on knowledge and understanding. 16 “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will ^apno longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 “At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The ^aqThrone of the Lord,’ and ^arall the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the ^asname of the Lord; nor will they ^atwalk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 ^au“In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together ^avfrom the land of the north to the ^awland that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

19 “Then I said, ‘How I would set you among ^{▼▼ Lit the}My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most ^aybeautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, ^azMy Father,
And not turn away from following Me.’
20 “Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her ^{▼▼ Or companion}lover,
So you have ^bbdealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.

21 A voice is heard on the ^bcbare heights,
The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel;
Because they have perverted their way,
They have ^bdforgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, O faithless sons,
^beI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
23 “Surely, ^bfthe hills are a deception,
A tumult on the mountains.
Surely in the ^bgLord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.

24 “But ^bhthe shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 “Let us lie down in our ^bishame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, ^bjfrom our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”