Jeremiah 3:6-20

Unfaithful Israel

6 During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there.
7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it.
8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery.
9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
11 The LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah.
12 Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will not be angry forever.
13 Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the LORD.
14 “Return, faithless people,” declares the LORD, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.
15 Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.
16 In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the LORD, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
17 At that time they will call Jerusalem The Throne of the LORD, and all nations will gather in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. No longer will they follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.
18 In those days the people of Judah will join the people of Israel, and together they will come from a northern land to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
19 “I myself said, “ ‘How gladly would I treat you like my children and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.
20 But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,” declares the LORD.

Cross References 46

  • 1. S 1 Chronicles 3:14
  • 2. ver 12,22; S Isaiah 24:16; Jeremiah 31:22; Jeremiah 49:4
  • 3. S Deuteronomy 12:2; Jeremiah 17:2; Ezekiel 20:28; Hosea 4:13
  • 4. S Leviticus 17:7; Jeremiah 2:20
  • 5. Ezekiel 16:46; Ezekiel 23:2,11
  • 6. Amos 4:8
  • 7. Jeremiah 11:10
  • 8. S Deuteronomy 4:27; S Deuteronomy 24:1
  • 9. Ezekiel 16:47; Ezekiel 23:11
  • 10. ver 2
  • 11. S Leviticus 17:7; S Isaiah 1:21
  • 12. S Isaiah 57:6
  • 13. Jeremiah 2:27
  • 14. Isaiah 31:6; Amos 4:9; Haggai 2:17
  • 15. Jeremiah 12:2; Ezekiel 33:31
  • 16. S 2 Kings 17:19
  • 17. Ezekiel 16:52; Ezekiel 23:11
  • 18. ver 7
  • 19. S Jeremiah 2:19
  • 20. 2 Kings 17:3-6
  • 21. ver 14; S Deuteronomy 4:30; Jeremiah 31:21,22; Ezekiel 14:6; Ezekiel 33:11; Hosea 14:1
  • 22. S ver 6
  • 23. S 1 Kings 3:26; S Psalms 6:2
  • 24. S Psalms 103:9; S Isaiah 54:9; Psalms 86:15
  • 25. Deuteronomy 30:1-3; Jeremiah 14:20; 1 John 1:9
  • 26. S Jeremiah 2:25
  • 27. S Deuteronomy 12:2
  • 28. ver 25; Jeremiah 22:21
  • 29. S ver 12; S Job 22:23; Jeremiah 4:1; Hosea 2:19
  • 30. S Isaiah 54:5
  • 31. S Isaiah 31:4; Acts 20:28
  • 32. Acts 13:22
  • 33. S Numbers 3:31; S 1 Chronicles 15:25
  • 34. S Isaiah 65:17
  • 35. S Psalms 47:8; Jeremiah 17:12; Jeremiah 33:16; Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 43:7; Ezekiel 48:35
  • 36. S Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:1
  • 37. S Psalms 22:23; Jeremiah 13:11; Jeremiah 33:9; Isaiah 60:9
  • 38. Psalms 81:12; Jeremiah 7:24; Jeremiah 9:14; Jeremiah 11:8; Jeremiah 13:10; Jeremiah 16:12; Jeremiah 18:12
  • 39. Jeremiah 30:3; Ezekiel 37:19; Hosea 1:11
  • 40. S Isaiah 11:13; Jeremiah 50:4
  • 41. Jeremiah 16:15; Jeremiah 31:8
  • 42. Deuteronomy 31:7; S Isaiah 14:1; Ezekiel 11:17; Ezekiel 37:22; Amos 9:15
  • 43. S Deuteronomy 8:7
  • 44. Psalms 106:24; Ezekiel 20:6
  • 45. S ver 4; S Exodus 4:22; S 2 Samuel 7:14; Isaiah 63:16
  • 46. S Isaiah 24:16
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