{Hebrew: Saying.}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; {Or, and thinkest thou to return &c?}yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.
Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; yet thou hast a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the {Or, companion}guide of my youth?
Will he retain his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou {Or, hast spoken thus, but hast done &c.}hast spoken and hast done evil things, and hast {Hebrew: been able.}had thy way.
Moreover Jehovah said 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.
{Or, And I said, After she hath done all these things, she &c.}And I said after she had done all these things, {Or, Let her return unto me}She will return unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot.
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith Jehovah.
And Jehovah said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath showed herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith Jehovah; I will not {Hebrew: cause my countenance to fall upon you.}look in anger upon you; for I am merciful, saith Jehovah, I will not keep anger for ever.
Only {Or, know}acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against Jehovah thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith Jehovah.
Return, O backsliding children, saith Jehovah; for I am a husband unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
And I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
And it shall come to pass, when ye are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith Jehovah, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of Jehovah; neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they {Or, visit}miss it; neither {Or, shall that be done any more}shall it be made any more.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart.
In those days the house of Judah shall walk {Or, to}with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers.
But I said, How {Or, shall I…nations?}I will put thee among the children, and give thee {Or, the goodliest heritage of the nations}a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations! and I said, {Another reading is, Thou shalt…and shalt not &c.}Ye shall call me My Father, and shall not turn away from following me.
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah.
A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God.
Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.
Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God.
Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the {Or, noisy throng}tumult on the mountains: truly in Jehovah our God is the salvation of Israel.
But the {Hebrew: shame. See chapter 11:13; Hosea 9:10}shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us; for we have sinned against Jehovah our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day; and we have not obeyed the voice of Jehovah our God.
Querverweise zu Jeremia 3,17 Jer 3,17
Do not {Or, contemn}abhor us, for thy name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established {Or, at the head}on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth {Or, instruction}the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.
And he will judge {Or, among}between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; to thy name, even to thy memorial name, is the desire of our soul.
But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and {Or, turned their back, and not their face}went backward, and not forward.
The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith Jehovah, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and gird thyself with them, like a bride.
For, as for thy waste and thy desolate places, and thy land that hath been destroyed, surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too strait for me; give place to me that I may dwell.
Then shalt thou say in thy heart, Who hath {Or, borne}begotten me these, seeing I have been bereaved of my children, and am {Or, barren}solitary, an exile, and wandering to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples; and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; and they that wait for me shall not be put to shame.
Also the foreigners that join themselves to Jehovah, to minister unto him, and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast my covenant;
but have walked after the stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them;
But it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they turned back, and dealt more corruptly than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; {Hebrew: they let nothing fall of their doings.}they ceased not from their doings, nor from their stubborn way.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Yet again shall they use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall {Or, return to}bring again their captivity: Jehovah bless thee, O habitation of righteousness, O mountain of holiness.
And nations shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to thee; thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be {Hebrew: nursed upon the side.}carried in the arms.
Then thou shalt see and be radiant, and thy heart shall thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee.
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the {Or, young camels}dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall {Hebrew: bring good tidings of the praises.}proclaim the praises of Jehovah.
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar; and I will {Or, beautify}glorify {Or, my beautiful house}the house of my glory.
Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Jehovah thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he hath {Or, beautified}glorified thee.
So shall they fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; {Or, when the adversary shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah will lift up a standard against them}for he will come as {Hebrew: a stream pent in.}a rushing stream, which the breath of Jehovah driveth.
Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the stubbornness of their evil heart: therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did them not.
And might not be as their fathers,A stubborn and rebellious generation,A generation {Or, that prepared not their hearts}that set not their heart aright,And whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
Glorious things are spoken of thee,O city of God. [Selah
And they shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an oblation unto Jehovah, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith Jehovah, as the children of Israel bring their oblation in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah.
and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart, so that ye hearken not unto me:
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and his {Or, skirts}train filled the temple.
But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established {Or, at the head}on the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it.
And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth {Or, instruction}the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem;
and he will judge {Or, among}between {Or, great}many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken it.
For all the peoples walk every one in the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God for ever and ever.
But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
Thus saith Jehovah, Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest?
And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts has sent me unto thee.
And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's {Or, sake; for the}sake, for that the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of {Or, great }many cities;
and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts: I will go also.
Yea, many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Jehovah.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
and it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; and that ye {Hebrew: spy not out.}follow not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to play the harlot;
And he said unto me, Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, and by the dead bodies of their kings {Or, according to another reading, in their death.}in their high places;
because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened.
But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is our mother.
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace.
(for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds),
casting down {Or, reasonings Romans 2:15.}imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ;
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind,
being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart;
who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, {Or, to make a trade of}to work all uncleanness with {Or, covetousness Compare chapter 5:3; Colossians 3:5.}greediness.