Jeremiah 3:1

1 "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, wouldn't the land become completely unclean? But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me?" says the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 3:1

They say, if a man put away his wife
Or, "saying" {w}; wherefore some connect those words with the last verse of the preceding chapter, as if they were a continuation of what the Lord had been there saying, that he would reject their confidences; so Kimchi; but they seem rather to begin a new section, or a paragraph, with what were commonly said among men, or in the law, and as the sense of that; that if a man divorced his wife upon any occasion, and she go from him;
departs from his house, and is separated from bed and board with him: and become another man's,
be married to another, as she might according to the law: shall he return unto her again?
take her to be his wife again; her latter husband not liking her, or being dead? no, he will not; he might not according to the law in ( Deuteronomy 24:4 ) and if there was no law respecting this, it can hardly be thought that he would, it being so contrary to nature, and to the order of civil society: shall not that land be greatly polluted?
either Judea, or any other, where such usages should obtain; for this, according to the law, was causing the land to sin, filling it with it, and making it liable to punishment for it; this being an abomination before the Lord. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it, "shall not that woman be defiled?" she is so by the latter husband; and that is a reason why she is not to be received by the former again, ( Deuteronomy 24:4 ) : but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers;
or served many idols; the number of their gods having been according to the number of their cities, ( Jeremiah 2:28 ) : yet return again to me, saith the Lord;
by repentance, and doing their first works, worshipping and serving him as formerly; so the Targum,

``return now from this time to my worship, saith the Lord.''

The Vulgate Latin version adds, "and I will receive thee"; this is an instance of great grace in the Lord, and which is not to be found among men.

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FOOTNOTES:

F23 (rwmal) "dicendo", Montanus, Vatablus, Janius & Tremellius

Jeremiah 3:1 In-Context

1 "If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, wouldn't the land become completely unclean? But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me?" says the Lord.

2 "Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah. Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute? You have sat by the road waiting for lovers, like an Arab in the desert. You made the land unclean, because you did evil and were like a prostitute.

3 So the rain has not come, and there have not been any spring rains. But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute. You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.

4 Now you are calling to me, 'My father, you have been my friend since I was young.

5 Will you always be angry at me? Will your anger last forever?' Judah, you said this, but you did as much evil as you could!"