Ancient Israel as God's backslidden and
adulterous wife and the promise of the bride the Lambs wife.
Jeremiah 3:1They say, If a man put away
his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return
to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but you have
played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, said the
LORD. 2 Lift up your eyes to the high places, and see where you have not
been lien with. In the ways have you sat for them, as the Arabian in the
wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your prostitutions and
with your wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and
there has been no latter rain; and you had a whore's forehead, you
refused to be ashamed. 4 Will you not from this time cry to me, My
father, you are the guide of my youth? 5 Will he reserve his anger for
ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil
things as you could.
6 The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah
the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is
gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has
played the harlot. 7 And I said after she had done all these things,
Turn you to me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah
saw it. 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. 9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her
prostitution, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with
stones and with stocks. 10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister
Judah has not turned to me with her whole heart, but feignedly, said the
LORD.
11 And the LORD said to me, The backsliding Israel has justified
herself more than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words
toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, said the
LORD; and I will not cause my anger to fall on you: for I am merciful,
said the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge
your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and
have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and
you have not obeyed my voice, said the LORD.
14 Turn, O backsliding
children, said the LORD; for I am married to you: and I will take you
one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 15 And
I will give you pastors according to my heart, which shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding. 16 And it shall come to pass, when you be
multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, said 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. 17 At that time they shall call
Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered
to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk
any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 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 to your fathers. 19 But I said, How shall I put you among
the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the
hosts of nations? and I said, You shall call me, My father; and shall
not turn away from me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from
her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel,
said the LORD. 21 A voice was heard on 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. 22 Return, you
backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come
to you; for you are the LORD our God. 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. 24 For shame has devoured
the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters. 25 We lie down in our shame, and our
confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and
our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the
voice of the LORD our God.
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