Jeremiah 3

1 “They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says the LORD.

“[Moses wrote that] if a man divorces his wife and then she marries another man, her first husband certainly must not [RHQ] take her back again [to be his wife], because that would certainly [RHQ] cause the whole nation to become unacceptable to me. But you have more [idols than] prostitutes have men whom they have slept with! So, [why should I accept you if] you return to me?” [RHQ] says Yahweh.

2 “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.

“Look up at the barren hilltops. On every hilltop there are [RHQ] [idols that you have worshiped]. [It is as though] they are all lovers with whom you have had sex. [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 Therefore the showers have been withheld and there has been no latter rain; yet you have had a prostitute’s forehead and you refused to be ashamed.

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

4 Will you not from this time cry to me, ‘My Father, you are the guide of my youth!’?

Now each of you says to me, ‘You are my father! You have loved me ever since I was young!

5 “‘Will he retain his anger forever? Will he keep it to the end?’ Behold, you have spoken and have done evil things, and have had your way.”

So surely you will not [RHQ] be angry with me forever!’ But you will not quit sinning!”

6 Moreover, the LORD said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.

[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 big tree and worshiped idols there [MET].

7 I said after she had done all these things, ‘She will return to me;’ but she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

I thought that they would return to me, so I said to them, ‘Come back to me!’ But they refused. So I sent them away [to other countries, like a man] writes a note saying that he is divorcing his wife and then sends his wife away because she has committed adultery [MET].

8 I saw when, for this very cause, that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet treacherous Judah, her sister, had no fear, but she also went and played the prostitute.

The people of Judah saw what I did to them. But they are just like the people of Israel. They are not afraid [of what I will do to them]. They also [have turned away from me and are worshiping idols like] women who abandon their husbands and go to other men [MET].

9 Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood.

They thought that worshiping idols did not matter to me, so they have made the [entire] land unacceptable to me by worshiping idols of wood and stone.

10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister, Judah, has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only in pretence,” says the LORD.

The people of Judah have pretended to return to me, but they have not really done that. [This is true because I], Yahweh, have said it.”

11 The LORD said to me, “Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

Then Yahweh said to me, “The people of Israel have turned away from me, but what the people of Judah have done is worse.

12 Go, and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not look in anger on you, for I am merciful,’ says the LORD. ‘I will not keep anger forever.

So go and tell this to the people of Israel: ‘Yahweh says this to you Israeli 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 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’” says the LORD.

But you must admit/say that you are guilty, and that you have rebelled against me, Yahweh, your God, that you have worshiped idols under big trees everywhere, and you have not obeyed me. You have turned away from me.

14 “Return, backsliding children,” says the LORD, “for I am a husband to you. I will take one of you from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

But you belong to me. So I will take you, one from [each] city and two from [each] clan, and bring you [back] to Jerusalem [from the countries to which you were exiled].

15 I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

[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 It will come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land in those days,” says the LORD, “they will no longer say, ‘the ark of the LORD’s covenant!’ It will not come to mind. They won’t remember it. They won’t miss it, nor will another be made.

And when you become very numerous [DOU] in your land, you will not need to talk about the Sacred Chest that contained the Ten Commandments. You will not think about it, and you will not want to make a new one.

17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The LORD’s Throne;’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to the LORD’s name, to Jerusalem. They will no longer walk after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

At that time people will say, “Jerusalem is [the place where] Yahweh’s throne is.” [People from] all nations will come there to worship me. And they will no longer stubbornly do the evil things that they desire.

18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance to your fathers.

At that time you people [MTY] of Israel and the people of Judah will return from [being (exiled/forced to live) in] lands to the northeast. You will return to the land that I gave to your ancestors to belong to them [forever].

19 “But I said, ‘How I desire to put you amongst the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’

You people of Israel, I wanted to accept you to be my children. I wanted to give you [this] delightful land. It is a land more desirable/pleasant than the land of any other nation! I wanted you to call me ‘father’, and I wanted you to never turn away from me.

20 “Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says the LORD.

But you have abandoned me like wives who have abandoned their husbands.’” [That is what] Yahweh said, and [I told it] to the people of Israel.

21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.

People will hear a noise on the barren hilltops. It will be the noise made by people weeping and pleading [for God to be merciful to them]. They will be admitting/saying that they have forgotten Yahweh their God, and that they turned away from behaving as God wanted them to.

22 Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are the LORD our God.

Yahweh will say to them, “You Israeli people, come back to me! [If you do that], I will cause you to never turn away from me again.” [The people will reply], “We are returning to you, because you are Yahweh, our God.

23 Truly help from the hills, the tumult on the mountains, is in vain. Truly the salvation of Israel is in the LORD our God.

We did not get any help from [the idols that we worshiped on] the hilltops; we did not get any help from making all that noise up there.

24 But the shameful thing has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

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 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. We have not obeyed the LORD our God’s voice.”

So, now we should lie down feeling very ashamed [DOU], because we and our ancestors have sinned against Yahweh our God, and we have never obeyed him.”