Jeremiah 3:1-11

New American Standard Bible

The Defiled Land

3 God ^[a]says, “^(A)If a husband divorces his wife
And she leaves him
And becomes another man’s wife,
Will he return to her again?
Would that land not be completely defiled?
But you ^(B)are a prostitute with many ^[b]lovers;
Yet you ^(C)turn to Me,” declares the Lord.
²“Raise your eyes to the ^(D)bare heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
You have ^(E)sat for them by the roads
Like an Arab in the desert,
And you have ^(F)defiled a land
With your prostitution and your wickedness.
³Therefore the ^(G)showers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a ^(H)prostitute’s ^[c]forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.
⁴Have you not just now called to Me,
‘^(I)My Father, You are the ^(J)friend of my ^(K)youth?
⁵^(L)Will He be angry forever,
Or keep His anger to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have ^[d]had your own way.”

Faithless Israel

⁶Then the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She ^(M)went up on every high hill and under every leafy tree, and she prostituted herself there. ⁷Yet ^(N)I ^[e]thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her ^(O)treacherous sister Judah saw it. ⁸And I saw that for all the ^[f]adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and ^(P)given her a certificate of divorce, yet her ^(Q)treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and prostituted herself also. ⁹And because of the thoughtlessness of her prostitution, she ^(R)defiled the land and committed ^[g]adultery with ^(S)stones and trees. ¹⁰Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in ^(T)deception,” declares the Lord.