Jeremiah 3:7

7 I 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.

Jeremiah 3:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 3:7

And I said, after she had done these things
All these idolatries, in the several places mentioned, after she had repeated them over and over; the Lord sent to them by the Prophets Hosea, Amos, Micah, and others, who prophesied before the captivity of the ten tribes, and entreated them, saying, turn unto me:
to my worship, as the Targum; from their idols, to him the living God; they were not without admonitions, exhortations, and declarations of grace, and so were without excuse: but she returned not;
to fear and serve the Lord, but remained in idolatry, obstinate and inflexible: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it;
her treachery and breach of covenant, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions add, for explanation sake; Judah, or the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and who were allied to the ten tribes by birth and by religion, and equally treacherous to God, the husband of them both, saw all the idolatry of Israel, and the aggravations of it, and what followed upon it, namely, their captivity in Babylon, yet did not learn and take warning hereby.

Jeremiah 3:7 In-Context

5 Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ This you have spoken, but you keep doing all the evil you can.”

6 Now in the days 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 green tree to prostitute herself there.

7 I 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.

8 She 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.

9 Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.