Jeremiah 3:1
They 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.
Study Note
Study Note
The opening of Jeremiah's divorce-and-return rhetoric — applying Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (which prohibits a divorced wife from returning after remarriage) to Israel's relationship with God — creates a legal impossibility that sets up the remarkable gracious reversal of verse 12-13 ('return, backsliding Israel…I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you'). The rhetorical force is precisely the impossibility: by human law, Israel's relationship with God is irrecoverable — she has 'played the harlot with many lovers' (v. 1b). God's decision to override this legal logic with covenant mercy introduces the 'new covenant' trajectory that comes to its explicit statement in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Hosea 2-3 develops the same scandal of grace — God reclaiming an adulterous wife — and Paul draws on this entire tradition in Romans 5:8 ('while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us').
Other Translations
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.
Saying, `Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah.
They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he go back to her again? will not that land have been made unclean? but though you have been acting like a loose woman with a number of lovers, will you now come back to me? says the Lord.
Cross References
Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast …
That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were …
But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with …
(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the …
Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father’s house, and the men of her city …
When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour …
Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is …
And his concubine played the whore against him, and went away from him unto her father’s house to Beth–lehem–judah, and …
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the …
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: