Jer 3:8 | NETfull | STEP | She also saw that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods.

Jeremiah 3:8

8 She also saw ^{▼▼ Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew ms, some Greek mss, and the Syriac version. The MT reads “I saw” which may be a case of attraction to the verb at the beginning of the previous verse.} that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. ^{▼▼ Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.} Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, ^{▼▼ The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.} she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ^{▼▼ Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.}