Jeremiah

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.

1People say that if a man divorces his wife and she marries someone else, he cannot take her back. That would make the whole land unclean. But you have chased after many lovers. Even so, come back to me, says the LORD.

NoteThe law said a man could not remarry a wife who had married someone else after their divorce. God points to that rule, then invites His people back anyway.

2Lift 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.

2Look up at the bare hilltops and see. Is there any place where you have not been used? You sat by the roads waiting for lovers, like a wanderer camped in the desert. You made the land dirty with your unfaithful and wicked ways.

3Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

3So the rains were held back, and the spring showers never came. Yet you kept the bold face of a woman who sells herself. You refused to feel any shame.

4Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?

4Have you not just now called out to me, "My Father, you have been my friend since I was young?"

5Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.

5You ask, "Will he stay angry forever? Will he hold it against me to the end?" That is how you talk, but you keep doing all the evil you can.

6The 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.

6In the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She went up every high hill and under every green tree to worship other gods there."

7And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

7I thought that after she had done all this, she would come back to me. But she did not come back. And her sister Judah, who also broke faith with me, watched it happen.

8And 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.

8Israel was unfaithful again and again, so I sent her away and gave her divorce papers. But her sister Judah was not afraid. She went and was unfaithful too.

9And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

9Israel did not care at all that she was unfaithful. She made the land dirty by worshiping stone and wood as if they were her husband.

Note"Stones" and "wood" mean idols carved from stone and wood. Worshiping them is pictured here as breaking a marriage promise.

10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.

10Even after all this, her sister Judah did not come back to me with her whole heart. She only pretended, says the LORD.

11And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

11Then the LORD said to me, "Unfaithful Israel has shown herself to be more in the right than false Judah."

12Go 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.

12Go and call out these words toward the north: Come back, unfaithful Israel, says the LORD. I will not look at you in anger anymore, for I am merciful, says the LORD. I will not stay angry forever.

13Only 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.

13Only admit that you did wrong and turned against the LORD your God. You gave yourself to foreign gods under every green tree and would not listen to me, says the LORD.

14Turn, 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:

14Come back, unfaithful children, says the LORD, for I am your husband and master. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and bring you to Zion.

15And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

15I will give you shepherds who match my own heart. They will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

NoteThe KJV word "pastors" here means shepherds, the leaders who guide and care for a nation, not church ministers.

16And 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.

16In those days, when your numbers grow large in the land, says the LORD, people will no longer talk about the ark of the covenant of the LORD. They will not think of it or miss it, and no new one will be made.

17At 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.

17At that time people will call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD. All the nations will gather there to honor the name of the LORD. They will stop following their own stubborn, evil hearts.

18In 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.

18In those days the people of Judah will walk together with the people of Israel. They will come as one from the land in the north to the land I gave their fathers to keep.

19But 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.

19I said, "How gladly I would treat you as my own children and give you a good land, the finest land any nation has." I thought you would call me Father and never turn away from me.

20Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

20But just as a wife can betray her husband, you have betrayed me, people of Israel, says the LORD.

21A 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.

21A sound is heard on the bare hilltops. It is the people of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they twisted their ways and forgot the LORD their God.

22Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

22Come back, unfaithful children, and I will heal you of your turning away. The people answer: Here we are. We come to you, for you are the LORD our God.

23Truly 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.

23The worship on the hills and the noise on the mountains were all a lie. Israel's rescue comes only from the LORD our God.

24For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

24Since we were young, that shameful god has eaten up everything our fathers worked for. It took their flocks and herds, their sons and their daughters.

25We 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.

25Let us lie down in our shame and let our disgrace cover us. We have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth until today, and we have not obeyed him.