Jer 3, Jer 32 | ESV | STEP | If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted ? You have played the whore with many lovers ; and would you return to me? declares the Lord .

1 ^a“If ^{▼▼Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew Saying, “If} a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
^cWould not that land be greatly polluted?
^dYou have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to ^ethe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
^fBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
^gYou have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 ^hTherefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have ⁱthe forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now ^jcalled to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 ^kwill he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

6 The Lord said to me in the days of ^lKing Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, ^mhow she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there ⁿplayed the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous ^osister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, ^pI had sent her away with ^qa decree of divorce. ^rYet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went ^sand played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with ^tstone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me ^uwith her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

11 And the Lord said to me, ^v“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward ^wthe north, and say,

^x“‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for ^yI am merciful,

declares the Lord;
^zI will not be angry forever.
13 ^aaOnly acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under ^abevery green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.
14 ^acReturn, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;
^adfor I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15 “‘And ^aeI will give you shepherds after my own heart, ^afwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, ^agand all nations shall gather to it, ^ahto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 ^aiIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land ^ajof the north to ^akthe land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

19 “‘I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would ^alcall me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 ^amSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’”
21 A voice on the ^anbare heights is heard,
^aothe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 ^ap“Return, O faithless sons;
^aqI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly ^arthe hills are a delusion,
the orgies ^{▼▼Hebrew commotion} on the mountains.
^atTruly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 ^auLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For ^avwe have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Jeremiah 32

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^awin the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^axwhich was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. 2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^aywas shut up in ^azthe court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. 3 For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^baBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; 4 ^bbZedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^bcbut shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. 5 And ^bdhe shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^beThough you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^bf‘Buy my field that is at ^bgAnathoth, ^bhfor the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ 8 Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^bithe court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^bjAnathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

9 “And I bought the field at ^bkAnathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^blweighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. 10 ^bmI signed the deed, ^bnsealed it, ^bogot witnesses, and ^bpweighed the money on scales. 11 Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. 12 And I gave the deed of purchase to ^bqBaruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of ^brthe witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in ^bsthe court of the guard. 13 I charged ^btBaruch in their presence, saying, 14 ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. 15 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and ^bufields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

16 “After I had given the deed of purchase to ^bvBaruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: 17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is ^bwyou who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ^bxyour outstretched arm! ^byNothing is too hard for you. 18 ^bzYou show steadfast love to thousands, ^cabut you repay the guilt of fathers ^cbto their children after them, O great and ^ccmighty God, whose name is the ^cdLord of hosts, 19 ^cegreat in counsel and ^cfmighty in deed, ^cgwhose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, ^chrewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. 20 You have shown ^cisigns and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, ^cjand have made a name for yourself, as at this day. 21 ^ckYou brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and ^cloutstretched arm, ^cmand with great terror. 22 And you gave them this land, ^cnwhich you swore to their fathers to give them, ^coa land flowing with milk and honey. 23 And they entered and took possession of it. ^cpBut they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. 24 Behold, ^cqthe siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ^crbecause of sword and famine and pestilence ^csthe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. 25 Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ^ct“Buy the field for money ^cuand get witnesses”—though ^cvthe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

26 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 27 “Behold, I am the Lord, ^cwthe God of all flesh. ^cxIs anything too hard for me? 28 Therefore, thus says the Lord: ^cyBehold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. 29 The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city ^czshall come and set this city on fire and burn it, ^dawith the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal ^dband drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, ^dcto provoke me to anger. 30 For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ^ddfrom their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but ^deprovoke me to anger ^dfby the work of their hands, declares the Lord. 31 This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, ^dgso that I will remove it from my sight 32 because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger— ^dhtheir kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 33 ^diThey have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them ^djpersistently, they have not listened ^dkto receive instruction. 34 They set up ^dltheir abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. 35 They built the high places of Baal ^dmin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^dnto offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ^dothough I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ^dpthis abomination, ^dqto cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

36 “Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ^dr‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37 ^dsBehold, I will gather them from all the countries ^dtto which I drove them in ^dumy anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, ^dvand I will make them dwell in safety. 38 ^dwAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 ^dxI will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, ^dyfor their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 ^dzI will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. ^eaAnd I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 ^ebI will rejoice in doing them good, ^ecand I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

42 “For thus says the Lord: ^edJust as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. 43 ^eeFields shall be bought in this land ^efof which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; ^egit is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ 44 Fields shall be bought for money, and ^ehdeeds shall be signed and ^eisealed and ^ejwitnessed, ^ekin the land of Benjamin, ^elin the places about Jerusalem, ^emand in the cities of Judah, ^enin the cities of the hill country, ^eoin the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for ^epI will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”