Jeremiah 3:6

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

6 The LORD said to me in the days of ¹King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, ²how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there ³played the whore?

Jeremiah 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 3:6

The Lord said also unto me, in the days of Josiah the king,
&c.] For in his time Jeremiah began to prophesy, even in the thirteenth year of his reign, ( Jeremiah 1:2 ) : hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done?
the ten tribes; that is, hast thou not heard? or dost thou not know the idolatry of the ten tribes, which was the cause of their captivity? as Kimchi explains it; for the facts, or the idolatrous actions of the ten tribes, were not done in Josiah's and Jeremiah's time; for they were carried captive in the sixth year of Hezekiah, ninety years or more before Jeremiah began to prophesy, and their idolatry was before their captivity, and therefore could not be properly seen by him; only it had been heard of by him, it was known by him, it was notorious enough, being well attested: she is gone upon every high mountain, and under every green tree;
that is, she did so, when in her own land, before she was carried captive, as Jarchi observes; for this respects not what she did in Josiah's and Jeremiah's time, or when in captivity, but before, which was the reason of it: and there hath played the harlot:
or committed idolatry, which was usually done in such places; so the Targum,

``and worshipped idols of wood.''

Jeremiah 3:6 In-Context

4 Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, you are the friend of my youth--

5 will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?' Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

6 The LORD said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?

7 And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 1:2
• 2. See Jeremiah 2:20
• 3. [See ver. 1 above]