Jeremiah 3:9

9 Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted.

Jeremiah 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 3:9

And it came to pass, through the lightness of her whoredom,
&c.] Or the "swiftness" ^F2 of it; when it was once set on foot, it ran through the land presently one taking it from and following the example of another; or it became a light thing with her to commit idolatry; it was looked upon as a small thing, a trivial offence at most: so the Targum,

``it came to pass that her idols were light in her eyes;''

not lightly esteemed of, but it was a light thing to commit idolatry with them; interpreting the word as the Masora, which it follows: and to the same sense the Septuagint version, "her fornication was for nothing"; it stood for nothing, it was not reckoned as a sin: the Arabic version is, "her fornication was with nothing"; with an idol, which is nothing in the world, ( 1 Corinthians 8:4 ) , some choose to render it, "because of the voice or fame of her whoredom" ^F3, or idolatry; it sounded forth, and the fame, or rather infamy of it, went out through the whole land: wherefore it follows, that she defiled the land;
polluted it with sin, involved it in guilt, and exposed it to punishment: and committed adultery with stones and with stocks;
that is, with images made of stone and wood, which they served and worshipped as gods; and is the adultery or idolatry they are charged with, and by which the land was defiled. The Targum is,

``she erred or committed idolatry with the worshippers of stone and wood.''

This, by what follows, seems to be understood not of Judah, but of Israel.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F2 (lqm) "a levitate", a (llq) , "velocem esse", Calvin.
F3 Heb. "propter vocem scortationis ejus, [vel] famosam scortationem", Piscator; "a voce scortationis ejus", Schmidt; "propter famam scortationis ejus", Cocceius; "prae famosa scortatione", Junius & Tremellius.

Jeremiah 3:9 In-Context

7 I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this.

8 She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.

9 Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted.

10 But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

11 Then the LORD said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah!