Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

Jeremiah 3

6 The Lord said to me in the days of p King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, q how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there i played the whore? 7 And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous r sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, s I had sent her away with t a decree of divorce. u Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went i and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with v stone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me w with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord."

11 And the Lord said to me, x "Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

12 Go, and proclaim these words toward y the north, and say,
z "'Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for a I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
b I will not be angry forever.
 13 c Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under d every green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
 14 e Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
f for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.

15 "'And g I will give you shepherds after my own heart, h who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, "The ark of the covenant of the Lord." It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, i and all nations shall gather to it, j to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 k In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land l of the north to m the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19 "'I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would n call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
 20 o Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.'"

21 A voice on the p bare heights is heard,
q the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
 22 r "Return, O faithless sons;
s I will heal your faithlessness."
"Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
 23 Truly t the hills are a delusion,
the orgies 1 on the mountains.
u Truly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.

24 "But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 v Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For w we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."

Jeremiah 4

1 "If you return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
x to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
y and do not waver,
 2 z and if you swear, 'As the Lord lives,'
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then a nations shall bless themselves in him,
b and in him shall they glory."

3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
c "Break up your fallow ground,
and d sow not among thorns.
 4 e Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
f lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
g because of the evil of your deeds."

  1. Cross References
    Jeremiah 1:2
    To whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
  2. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:20
    For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve.' Yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.
  3. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:1
    If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord.
  4. Cross References
    Ezekiel 16:46
    And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters.
    Ezekiel 23:4
    Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
  5. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:18
    Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.
    Hosea 1:6
    She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, "Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
    Hosea 1:9
    And the Lord said, "Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.
  6. Cross References
    Matthew 19:7
    They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?
    Mark 10:4
    They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.
    Deuteronomy 24:1 - 4
    When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house.
  7. Cross References
    Ezekiel 23:11
    Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister.
  8. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:1
    If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord.
  9. Cross References
    Jeremiah 2:27
    Who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they say, 'Arise and save us!
  10. Cross References
    Hosea 7:14
    They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves; they rebel against me.
  11. Cross References
    Ezekiel 16:51 - 52
    Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.
  12. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:18
    In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
  13. Cross References
    Proverbs 28:13
    Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
    Deuteronomy 30:1 - 10
    And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you.
  14. Cross References
    Psalms 86:5
    For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
    Psalms 86:15
    But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
  15. Cross References
    Psalms 103:9
    He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever.
  16. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:40
    But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me.
  17. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:6
    The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?
  18. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:22
    Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
    Hosea 14:1
    Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
  19. Cross References
    Isaiah 54:5
    For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called.
    Isaiah 62:5
    For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
    Hosea 2:19 - 20
    And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.
    Malachi 2:11
    Judah has been faithless, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
  20. Cross References
    Jeremiah 23:4
    I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
    Ezekiel 34:23
    And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.
    John 10:11
    I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
  21. Cross References
    Acts 20:28
    Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
  22. Cross References
    Isaiah 2:2 - 3
    It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it.
  23. Cross References
    Isaiah 60:9
    For the coastlands shall hope for me, the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your children from afar, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the Lord your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has made you beautiful.
  24. Cross References
    Jeremiah 50:4
    In those days and in that time, declares the Lord, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the Lord their God.
    Isaiah 11:13
    The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
    Ezekiel 37:21 - 22
    Then say to them, Thus says the Lord God : Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.
    Hosea 1:11
    And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
  25. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:12
    Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, "'Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord ; I will not be angry forever.
    Jeremiah 16:15
    But 'As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
    Jeremiah 23:8
    But 'As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' Then they shall dwell in their own land.
    Jeremiah 31:8
    Behold, I will bring them from the north country and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here.
  26. Cross References
    Amos 9:15
    I will plant them on their land, and they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them," says the Lord your God.
  27. Cross References
    Isaiah 63:16
    For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name.
  28. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:7 - 8
    And I thought, 'After she has done all this she will return to me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
    Jeremiah 5:11
    For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the Lord.
  29. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:2
    Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.
  30. Cross References
    Jeremiah 31:9
    With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
  31. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:14
    Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord ; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
  32. Cross References
    Jeremiah 30:17
    For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast: 'It is Zion, for whom no one cares!
    Isaiah 57:18
    I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners.
    Hosea 6:1
    Come, let us return to the Lord ; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
  33. Cross References
    Jeremiah 3:21
    A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the Lord their God.
    Psalms 121:1 - 2
    I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
  34. Cross References
    Psalms 3:8
    Salvation belongs to the Lord ; your blessing be on your people! Selah
  35. Cross References
    Ezra 9:6
    Saying: "O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.
    Job 8:22
    Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.
  36. Cross References
    Ezra 9:7
    From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.
    Ezekiel 2:3
    And he said to me, "Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.
  37. Cross References
    Joel 2:12
    Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.
  38. Cross References
    1 Kings 14:15
    The Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their fathers and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the Lord to anger.
  39. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 6:13
    It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
  40. Cross References
    Isaiah 65:16
    So that he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten and are hidden from my eyes.
  41. Cross References
    1 Corinthians 1:31
    So that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.
    2 Corinthians 10:17
    "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."
  42. Cross References
    Hosea 10:12
    Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.
  43. Cross References
    Matthew 13:7
    Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns g...
    Matthew 13:22
    As for what was sown among thorns, this is the ...
    Mark 4:7
    Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns gr...
    Mark 4:18
    And others are the ones sown among thorns. They...
    Luke 8:7
    And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew...
    Luke 8:14
    And as for what fell among the thorns, they are...
  44. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 10:16
    Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
    Jeremiah 9:26
    Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert who cut the corners of their hair, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
    Romans 2:28 - 29
    For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
  45. Cross References
    Jeremiah 21:12
    O house of David! Thus says the Lord : "'Execute justice in the morning, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed, lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of your evil deeds.'
  46. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 28:20
    The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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