Jeremiah 3

The Wages of the Harlot

¹“If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him to marry another,

can he ever return to her?

Would not such a land be completely defiled?

But you have played the harlot with many lovers—

and you would return to Me?”

declares Yahweh.

²“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see.

Is there any place where you have not been violated?

You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers,

like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

with your prostitution and wickedness.

³Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and no spring rains have fallen.

Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;

you refuse to be ashamed.

⁴Have you not just called to Me,

‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

⁵Will He be angry forever?

Will He be indignant to the end?’

This you have spoken,

but you keep doing all the evil you can.”

Judah Follows Israel’s Example

⁶Now in the days of King Josiah, Yahweh said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. ⁷I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.

• JER 3:6[DEMONIC]Israel commits adultery with stones and trees

⁸She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. ⁹Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. ¹⁰Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares Yahweh.

A Call to Repentance// Hosea 14:1–3; Zechariah 1:1–6

¹¹And Yahweh said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. ¹²Go, proclaim this message toward the north:

‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh.

‘I will no longer look on you with anger,

for I am merciful,’ declares Yahweh.

‘I will not be angry forever.

¹³Only acknowledge your guilt,

that you have rebelled against Yahweh your God.

You have scattered your favors to foreign gods

under every green tree

and have not obeyed My voice,’”

declares Yahweh.

• JER 3:13[DEMONIC]Israel scattered favors to foreign gods under every tree

¹⁴“Return, O faithless children,” declares Yahweh, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion. ¹⁵Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.”

• JER 3:15[HEART]God promises leaders who love what He loves and feed His people with knowledge.
• JER 3:15[NOTE]AFTER MY OWN HEART. The same words God used for David, 1 Samuel 13:14.

¹⁶“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares Yahweh, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made.

¹⁷At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of Yahweh, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of Yahweh. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. ¹⁸In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.

¹⁹Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons

and give you a desirable land,

the most beautiful inheritance

of all the nations!’

I thought you would call Me ‘Father’

and never turn away from following Me.

²⁰But as a woman may betray her husband,

so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,”

declares Yahweh.

²¹A voice is heard on the barren heights,

the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,

because they have perverted their ways

and forgotten Yahweh their God.

²²“Return, O faithless children,

and I will heal your faithlessness.”

“Here we are. We come to You,

for You are Yahweh our God.

²³Surely deception comes from the hills,

and commotion from the mountains.

Surely the salvation of Israel

is in Yahweh our God.

• JER 3:23[DEMONIC]The shameful god ate up their flocks and children

²⁴From our youth, that shameful god

has consumed what our fathers have worked for—

their flocks and herds,

their sons and daughters.

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame;

let our disgrace cover us.

We have sinned against Yahweh our God,

both we and our fathers;

from our youth even to this day

we have not obeyed the voice of Yahweh our God.”