CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Jeremiah 3
Chapter 3 of 52
Chapter Overview
What happens in Jeremiah 3
God compares Judah and Israel to unfaithful wives. Israel (the northern kingdom) was already sent into exile, yet Judah did not learn from this and was even more unfaithful. Despite this, God lovingly calls his people to return to him.
Scripture
Jeremiah 3
An Unfaithful People Called to Return
Study note
Under the law of Moses, a divorced woman who married another man could never go back to her first husband. God uses this law to make a point: Israel has been unfaithful with many false gods, yet God still invites them to come back. The people had worshipped idols on every hilltop. God even held back the rains as a warning, but the people had no shame.
1 "Imagine a man divorces his wife, and she goes off and marries someone else. Would that first husband ever take her back? Of course not! The whole land would be ruined. But you have been unfaithful with one lover after another, and still you want to come back to me?" says the Lord. They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
2 "Look up at the hilltops. Is there any spot where you haven't sinned? You sat by the roadsides waiting for lovers, like a robber hiding in the desert. Your unfaithfulness and wickedness have polluted the whole land." Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
3 "That's why I held back the spring rains and kept the later rains from falling. But you have the stubborn face of a woman who refuses to feel any shame." Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
4 "And yet right now you're calling out to me, 'My Father, you've been my guide ever since I was young!'" Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
5 "'Will God stay angry forever? Will he hold this grudge until the end of time?' That's what you say, but then you keep on doing every evil thing you can." Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
Israel and Judah Compared
Study note
During the reign of King Josiah, God explained to Jeremiah that the northern kingdom of Israel had been like an unfaithful wife, worshipping idols on every hill. God had sent Israel away into exile as punishment. But the southern kingdom of Judah saw what happened and did not learn. Judah only pretended to return to God, so God said that unfaithful Israel was actually less guilty than lying Judah.
6 When Josiah was king, the Lord said to me, "Did you notice what unfaithful Israel has been doing? She went to every hilltop and sat under every green tree to worship other gods." The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
7 "I expected that after doing all these things, she would come back to me. But she never came back. And her sister Judah, who was even more treacherous, watched the whole thing happen." And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 "Judah saw that I divorced unfaithful Israel and sent her away with official papers because of her unfaithfulness. But that didn't scare Judah one bit. She went right ahead and was unfaithful too." And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
9 "Israel treated her unfaithfulness as if it were nothing serious. She polluted the land by worshipping idols made of stone and wood." And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10 "Even after watching all of that, Judah — Israel's treacherous sister — didn't come back to me with a genuine heart. She only faked it," says the Lord. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
11 Then the Lord told me this. "Next to Judah, Israel looks more innocent. Judah has been far more false." And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
A Call to Come Home
Study note
Despite everything, God offers grace and invites the scattered people of Israel to come back. He promises not to stay angry forever because he is merciful. He asks only that they admit their sin. God promises to give them good leaders and to bring them back to Zion. In the future, the people will no longer need the Ark of the Covenant because all of Jerusalem will be called the throne of the Lord.
12 "Go face the north and announce this message: 'Come back to me, unfaithful Israel,' says the Lord. 'I won't keep looking at you with anger, because I am full of mercy,' says the Lord. 'I won't stay angry forever.'" Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.
13 "'admit what you did wrong. Admit that you rebelled against the Lord your God. You gave your love to foreign gods under every green tree, and you refused to listen to me,' says the Lord." Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.
14 "Come home, you unfaithful children," says the Lord, "because I am your true husband. I will pick one person from each town and two from each family, and I will bring you to Zion." Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
15 "Then I will give you leaders who truly care about you. They will guide you with wisdom and good understanding." And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 "When that day comes and your population has grown large in the land," says the Lord, "nobody will talk about the Ark of the Lord's Covenant anymore. No one will think about it, miss it, or remember it. And no one will build a new one." And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
17 "When that time arrives, Jerusalem will be called 'The Lord's Throne.' People from every nation will come together there to honor the Lord. They will stop following their own stubborn, evil desires." At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
18 "In those days, the people of Judah and the people of Israel will travel together. They will come from the land in the north back to the land I gave their ancestors as their own." In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
God Desires a Loving Relationship
Study note
God wanted to treat Israel as beloved children and give them a beautiful land. He wanted them to call him 'Father' and never turn away. But like a wife who betrays her husband, Israel was unfaithful. Yet a voice is heard from the hilltops: the people are crying and praying. God responds with a beautiful invitation to come back and be healed.
19 "I thought about how wonderful it would be to treat you as my own children and give you a beautiful land — the most wonderful land in the entire world. I imagined you would call me 'Father' and never walk away from me." But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
20 "But instead, just like a wife who cheats on her husband, you have been unfaithful to me, people of Israel," says the Lord. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
21 Voices can be heard crying on the hilltops — the weeping and begging of the people of Israel. They have twisted their lives and left the Lord their God behind. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
22 "Come back, you unfaithful children, and I will heal all your unfaithfulness." The people respond, "Yes, we are coming to you! You are the Lord our God." Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
23 "We know now that all the loud worship on the hilltops was a lie. Rescue for Israel comes only from the Lord our God." Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 "Since we were young, our shameful worship of false gods has eaten up everything our ancestors worked for. It took their sheep, cattle, sons, and daughters." For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 "Let us lie down in our shame and let disgrace wrap around us like a blanket. We have sinned against the Lord our God — both we and our parents. From the time we were young until right now, we have not done what the Lord our God told us to do." We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.
Key Themes
Themes in Jeremiah 3
God's invitation to repentanceComparison of Israel and judah's unfaithfulnessGrace that exceeds legal expectationsInsincere versus genuine repentanceFuture restoration and unity
Apply This Today
Living Jeremiah 3
God's willingness to take back an unfaithful people goes beyond what human law or custom would allow. Genuine repentance, not merely going through the motions, is what God desires. No matter how far we have strayed, the invitation to return stands open.
Go Deeper
Study Jeremiah in Covenant Path
Read every chapter with study aids, bookmarks, and daily reading plans — free in the app.