Jeremiah 3:7

7 I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah[a] 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 bear a grudge forever? Will He be endlessly infuriated? This is what you have spoken and done, the evil you are capable of.
6 In the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me, "Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there.
7 I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn't return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
8 I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.
9 Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and tree.

Footnotes 1

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