Jeremiah 3 is the third chapter of the

Book of Jeremiah The Book of Jeremiah ( he, ספר יִרְמְיָהוּ) is the second of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, and the second of the Prophets in the Christian Old Testament. The superscription at chapter Jeremiah 1:1–3 identifies the boo ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...

or the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

of the

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

. This book contains prophecies attributed to the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

Jeremiah Jeremiah, Modern: , Tiberian: ; el, Ἰερεμίας, Ieremíās; meaning " Yah shall raise" (c. 650 – c. 570 BC), also called Jeremias or the "weeping prophet", was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish ...

, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Chapters 2 to 6 contain the earliest preaching of Jeremiah on the apostasy of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Verses 2:1-3:5 dramatize the ending of a "marriage" between Yahweh and Israel, whereas verses 3:6-4:2 describe "the aftermath of recrimination" and partial restoration.

Text

The original text of this chapter, as with the rest of the

, was written in

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. Since the division of the Bible into chapters and verses in the late medieval period, this chapter is divided into 25 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the

Codex Cairensis The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...

(895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916),

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex ( he, כֶּתֶר אֲרָם צוֹבָא, romanized: , lit. 'Crown of Aleppo') is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the ...

(10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...

, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), designated by siglum [Aleph] or 01 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 2 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts) ...

(S; BHK:

\mathfrak

^S; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographically it ...

(Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

Parashot

The ''

parashah The term ''parashah'' ( he, פָּרָשָׁה ''Pārāšâ'', "portion", Tiberian , Sephardi , plural: ''parashot'' or ''parashiyot'', also called ''parsha'') formally means a section of a biblical book in the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Heb ...

'' sections listed here are based on the

. Jeremiah 3:1-5 is a part of the ''Second prophecy ( Jeremiah 2:1-3:5)'', whereas Jeremiah 3:6-25 is a part of the ''Third prophecy (Jeremiah 3:6- 6:30)''; both are in the section of ''Prophecies of Destruction ( Jeremiah 1- 25)''. : open ''parashah''; : closed ''parashah''. : 2:29-373:1-5 3:6-10 3:11-17 3:18-25

Structure

Verses 1–5 continue Jeremiah's first prophecy, commenced in chapter 2. Verses 6–18 may be considered as a separate prophecy, the first prophecy then resuming with verse 19.

Wages of apostasy (3:1–5)

Verse 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.'' The part following "They say" refers to which forbids a man who divorced his wife to remarry her if she had married another man, even when she becomes a widow or is divorced by the second husband.

Verse 3

:''Therefore the showers have been withheld,'' :''And there has been no latter rain.'' :''You have had a harlot’s forehead;'' :''You refuse to be ashamed.'' Jeremiah's thoughts are strongly connected with : :''And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain. The Septuagint text is completely different: :''And thou didst retain many shepherds for a stumbling-block to thyself: thou hadst a whore's face, thou didst become shameless toward all.''

A call to repentance (3:6–25)

Verse 12

:'' Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say:'' :: '''Return, backsliding Israel,' says the Lord;'' :: '''I will not cause My anger to fall on you.'' :: ''For I am merciful,' says the Lord;'' :: '''I will not remain angry forever.''' The phrase "Return, backsliding" (, ''shubah meshubah'') is a play of two words from the same root ''shub'' ("to turn"), that the "backslider" ("turn away") is invited to "return" ("turn back") without getting the anger of

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he posse ...

, because He is merciful.

Verse 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.'' KJV The Masoretic text reads: : אכן לשקר מגבעות המון הרים : אכן ביהוה אלהינו תשועת ישראל׃ Transliteration: : la- mi- ; : , . The repentance should start with the confession that the "hills" and "mountains" give false hope, but the salvation of Israel can only be found in Yahweh, as Israel's only God.

Notes and references

Sources

* * *

External links

Jewish

Jeremiah 3 Original Hebrew with Parallel English

Christian

Jeremiah 3 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
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