Jeremiah 3

Chapter 3 of Jeremiah continues the indictment of the people's idolatry that begins in chapter 2. The chapter likens the relationship between God and his people to a marriage and calls them to "return." Verse 6 states that this word was given in the days of King Josiah.

Outline

• Verses 1–5 Drawing on the law that a husband may not take back a wife whom he has divorced and who has become another man's wife, God rebukes the people for playing the harlot everywhere. Although the showers and the latter rain have been withheld, the people feel no shame.
• Verses 6–10 Backsliding Israel committed adultery and was given a bill of divorce. Her sister Judah saw this, yet did not fear but played the harlot as well, and she returned only feignedly, not with her whole heart.
• Verses 11–13 God declares that Israel has shown herself more righteous than Judah, calls toward the north for her to return, and commands the people to acknowledge their iniquity.
• Verses 14–18 God promises to take one from a city and two from a family and bring them to Zion, and to give shepherds according to his heart. In that day the ark of the covenant will no longer be sought, Jerusalem will be called the throne of the LORD, and Judah and Israel will return together.
• Verses 19–20 God desired to make the people his children and to be called Father by them. But the people departed from him, as a wife treacherously departs from her husband.
• Verses 21–25 Weeping is heard upon the high places, followed by the call, "Return … and I will heal." The people confess that salvation is in the LORD and acknowledge their shame.

Key Verses

• Jeremiah 3:12 "Return, thou backsliding Israel … for I am merciful" — shows that a way of return is open even to the northern kingdom, which had already fallen.
• Jeremiah 3:15 "And I will give you pastors according to mine heart" — a promise of leaders who will feed the people with knowledge and understanding.
• Jeremiah 3:22 "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings" — summarizes the chapter's overarching theme of returning (repentance) and healing.

People and Places

• Jeremiah: the prophet who receives and proclaims the word.
• Josiah: the king of Judah at the time this word was given.
• Israel and Judah: the northern and southern kingdoms, respectively. By this time the northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen (fall of the northern kingdom of Israel).
• Zion and Jerusalem: the place to which the scattered people will return and which will be called the throne of the LORD.
• The high places: bare, treeless heights where idolatry was practiced.

Points for Reflection

• The image in verse 1 draws on the divorce regulation in Deuteronomy 24:1–4. Because God himself invites a reunion that the law did not permit, many interpreters read this passage in connection with God's grace.
• The portrayal of God and his people as husband and wife also appears in Hosea and Ezekiel 23. In the New Testament this imagery is carried over to the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31–32).
• The reference to the ark of the covenant in verse 16 is read as looking ahead to a time when the LORD's presence will be manifest even without the ark. Christian interpretation commonly connects it with the new covenant.
• The story that Jeremiah hid the ark of the covenant on a mountain appears in 2 Maccabees 2. That book is not part of the Protestant canon, and the text of Jeremiah contains no such account.

In the Korean Church

• Verse 15 is frequently cited in sermons for the ordination of pastors or on the pastoral calling. Verses 12, 14, and 22 are often used in sermons calling for repentance.