3Jeremiah 3

Sin and Shame

1The Lord said to the people of Israel: If a divorced woman marries, can her first husband ever marry her again? No, because this would pollute the land. But you have more gods than a prostitute has lovers. Why should I take you back?Select Jeremiah 3:1

2Just try to find one hilltop where you haven't gone to worship other gods by having sex. You sat beside the road like a robber in ambush, except you offered yourself to every passerby. Your sins of unfaithfulness have polluted the land.Select Jeremiah 3:2

3So I, the Lord, refused to let the spring rains fall. But just like a prostitute, you still have no shame for what you have done.Select Jeremiah 3:3

4You call me your father or your long-lost friend;Select Jeremiah 3:4

5you beg me to stop being angry, but you won't stop sinning.Select Jeremiah 3:5

The Asks Israel To Come Back to Him

6When Josiah was king, the Lord said: Jeremiah, the kingdom of Israel was like an unfaithful wife who became a prostitute on the hilltops and in the shade of large trees.Select Jeremiah 3:6

8I knew that the kingdom of Israel had been unfaithful and committed many sins, yet I still hoped she might come back to me. But she didn't, so I divorced her and sent her away. Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn't worried in the least, and I watched her become unfaithful like her sister.Select Jeremiah 3:8

9The kingdom of Judah wasn't sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn't care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshiping idols of stone and wood.Select Jeremiah 3:9

10And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me.Select Jeremiah 3:10

11Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend.Select Jeremiah 3:11

12Jeremiah, shout toward the north: Israel, I am your Lord— come back to me! You were unfaithful and made me furious, but I am merciful, and so I will forgive you.Select Jeremiah 3:12

13Just admit that you rebelled and worshiped foreign gods under large trees everywhere.Select Jeremiah 3:13

14You are unfaithful children, but you belong to me. Come home! I'll take one or two of you from each town and clan and bring you to Zion.Select Jeremiah 3:14

15Then I'll appoint wise rulers who will obey me, and they will care for you like shepherds.Select Jeremiah 3:15

16You will increase in numbers, and there will be no need to remember the sacred chest or to make a new one.Select Jeremiah 3:16

17The whole city of Jerusalem will be my throne. All nations will come here to worship me, and they will no longer follow their stubborn, evil hearts.Select Jeremiah 3:17

18Then, in countries to the north, you people of Judah and Israel will be reunited, and you will return to the land I gave your ancestors.Select Jeremiah 3:18

19I have always wanted to treat you as my children and give you the best land, the most beautiful on earth. I wanted you to call me “Father” and not turn from me.Select Jeremiah 3:19

20But instead, you are like a wife who broke her wedding vows. You have been unfaithful to me. I, the Lord, have spoken.Select Jeremiah 3:20

The People Confess Their Sins / The said:

21Listen to the noise on the hilltops! It's the people of Israel, weeping and begging me to answer their prayers. They forgot about me and chose the wrong path.Select Jeremiah 3:21

22I will tell them, “Come back, and I will cure you of your unfaithfulness.” They will answer, “We will come back, because you are the Lord our God.Select Jeremiah 3:22

23On hilltops, we worshiped idols and made loud noises, but it was all for nothing— only you can save us.Select Jeremiah 3:23

24Since the days of our ancestors when our nation was young, that shameful god Baal has taken our crops and livestock, our sons and daughters.Select Jeremiah 3:24

25We have rebelled against you just like our ancestors, and we are ashamed of our sins.”Select Jeremiah 3:25