Major Prophets · Chapter 3 of 52

Jeremiah 3

Using the law of divorce, God confronts Israel's spiritual adultery yet astonishingly invites her to return. He contrasts backsliding Israel, already sent into exile, with treacherous Judah, who saw and did worse. Still he calls, Return, promising mercy, shepherds after his heart, and a future when Jerusalem is the throne of the LORD and all nations gather. The chapter ends with a people confessing shame and turning home.

What happens in Jeremiah 3

God raises the case of a divorced wife who cannot lawfully return to her first husband, then defies the analogy by inviting adulterous Israel to come back to him. He surveys Israel's harlotry on every high hill and her refusal to be ashamed. Recalling Josiah's days, he distinguishes northern Israel, whom he had already divorced through Assyrian exile, from southern Judah, who watched and sinned more brazenly with only feigned repentance.

Yet the dominant note is invitation: Return, backsliding Israel, for I am merciful. God asks only that they acknowledge their iniquity. He promises to bring them to Zion, to give shepherds after his own heart who feed with knowledge, and to make Jerusalem the throne of the LORD where all nations gather. The chapter closes with weeping on the heights and a confession of shame, as the people turn back to the LORD their God.

Jeremiah 3 in context

Set largely in Josiah's reign, when reform touched the surface but not the heart, this chapter develops the marriage metaphor central to the prophets. The northern kingdom had fallen to Assyria in 722 BC, a warning Judah ignored.

God's willingness to receive back an unfaithful spouse defies ancient law and human instinct, revealing a mercy that reaches beyond what justice would allow, provided there is honest acknowledgment of sin.

Main themes of Jeremiah 3

Jeremiah 3 (KJV)

1They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 2Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed. 4Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth? 5Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. 6The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. 7And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 9And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks. 10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. 11And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 14Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 15And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 18In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. 19But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me. 20Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. 21A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God. 22Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. 23Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. 24For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

Verses to carry from Jeremiah 3

“Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.”Jeremiah 3:12

“And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.”Jeremiah 3:15

“Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.”Jeremiah 3:22

Reflection

The word repeated here is Return. However far you have wandered, however defiled you feel, the invitation stands, and it comes from the one you wronged. God asks not for elaborate penance but for honest acknowledgment. Where have you assumed the door is closed? Hear him say, Return, and I will heal your backslidings, and simply come home.

A prayer from Jeremiah 3