Jeremiah 3:21

21 A voice on the bare heights is heard, the plaintive weeping of Israel's children, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God:

Jeremiah 3:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 3:21

A voice was heard upon the high places
And so might be heard afar off; it shows that the repentance and confession of the Jews, when convinced and converted, will be very public, and made upon those places where they have committed their sins; see ( Jeremiah 2:20 ) ( 3:16 ) , for this and the following verses declare the humiliation, repentance, and conversion of the Jews, and the manner in which they shall be brought to it, and be openly put among the children: weeping and supplications of the children of Israel;
not so much lamenting their calamities, as mourning over their sins, supplicating the pardon of them, and freely and ingenuously confessing them: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord
their God;
or, "because they have" F11 this they shall be sensible of, that they have perverted the right ways of the Lord by their traditions, and have forgotten the worship of the Lord, as the Targum paraphrases it; yea, the Lord himself, their covenant God and kind benefactor, and lightly esteemed of the true Messiah, the Rock of their salvation. The consideration of which will cause them to weep and mourn; which they will do when the Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon them; and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, ( Zechariah 12:10 ) . Some interpret this as the cause of their calamities, and not as the subject matter of their mourning; but the latter seems best to agree with what follows, which shows by what means they were brought to repentance, and were converted.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 (Mkrd ta wweh yk) "quia perverterunt viam suam", Munster, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; "eo quod", Piscator; "quod pravam viam inierunt", Cocceius.

Jeremiah 3:21 In-Context

19 I thought how I would set you among my children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful heritage of all the nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.
20 Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband, so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the Lord.
21 A voice on the bare heights is heard, the plaintive weeping of Israel's children, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God:
22 Return, O faithless children, I will heal your faithlessness. "Here we come to you; for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

Footnotes 1

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.