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Jeremiah 3
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 (3:1-13)
Foul, nasty, misogynistic messages from God.
 (3:1a) "If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's,
shall he return unto her again?"
A divorced woman is "polluted" when she remarries. The man, of course, remains perfectly clean through it all, even
though he was the one who "put her away" in the first place.
(3:1b) "Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers."
(3:2) "See where thou hast not
been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them ... and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms."
 (3:3a) "The showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain."
Droughts are punishments from God.
(3:3b) "Thou hadst a whore's forehead."
Jeremiah loves to insult people. His favorite insult is to call someone a whore.
(3:6) "She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree,
and there hath played the harlot."
 (3:8a) "When ... backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away,
and given her a bill of divorce."
(3:8b) "Yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also."
(3:9) "Through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks."
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| 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.
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| 3:2
Lift 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.
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| 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter
rain; and thou hadst a
whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
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| 3:4
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of
my youth?
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| 3:5
Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold,
thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
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| 3:6
The 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.
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| 3:7
And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she
returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
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| 3:8
And 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.
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| 3:9
And it came to pass through
the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed
adultery with stones and with stocks.
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| 3:10
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me
with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD.
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| 3:11
And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself
more than treacherous Judah. |
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| 3:12
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. |
 (3:12) "I
am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever."
How long does God's anger last?
Is God merciful?
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| 3:13
Only 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. |
(3:13) "Thou ... hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green
tree."
(Jeremiah just can't quit talking about sex under the trees.)
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| 3:14
Turn, 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: |
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| 3:15
And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you
with knowledge and understanding. |
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| 3:16
And 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. |
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| 3:17
At 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. |
 (3:17) "At 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."
Jeremiah prophesies that all nations of the earth will embrace Judaism.
This has not happened.
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| 3:18
In 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.
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| 3:19
But 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. |
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| 3:20
Surely as a wife
treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously
with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. |
(3:20) "As a wife treacherously departeth from her husband,
so have ye dealt treacherously with me."
If a woman leaves her husband, she is "treacherous," but a man is blameless when he "puts her away" for no reason.
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| 3:21
A 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.
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| 3:22
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.
Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. |
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| 3:23
Truly 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. |
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| 3:24
For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their
flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. |
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| 3:25
We 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.
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