Jeremiah 3:14

3:14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the Lord, “for I am your true master. ¹  If you do, ²  I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

Jeremiah 3:18-19

3:18 At that time ³  the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited. ⁴  Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession. ” ⁵ 

3:19 “I thought to myself, ⁶ 

‘Oh what a joy it would be for me to treat you like a son! ⁷ 

What a joy it would be for me to give ⁸  you a pleasant land,

the most beautiful piece of property there is in all the world!’ ⁹ 

I thought you would call me, ‘Father’ ¹⁰ 

and would never cease being loyal to me. ¹¹ 

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¹ tn Or “I am your true husband.”

sn There is a wordplay between the term “true master” and the name of the pagan god Baal. The pronoun “I” is emphatic, creating a contrast between the Lord as Israel’s true master/husband versus Baal as Israel’s illegitimate lover/master. See 2:23-25.

² tn The words, “If you do” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection of the Hebrew verb with the preceding.

³ tn Heb “In those days.”

⁴ tn Heb “the house of Judah will walk together with the house of Israel.”

⁵ tn Heb “the land that I gave your [fore]fathers as an inheritance.”

⁶ tn Heb “I, myself, said.” See note on “I thought that she might come back to me” in 3:7.

⁷ tn Heb “How I would place you among the sons.” Israel appears to be addressed here contextually as the Lord’s wife (see the next verse). The pronouns of address in the first two lines are second feminine singular as are the readings of the two verbs preferred by the Masoretes (the Qere readings) in the third and fourth lines. The verbs that are written in the text in the third and fourth lines (the Kethib readings) are second masculine plural as is the verb describing Israel’s treachery in the next verse.

sn The imagery here appears to be that of treating the wife as an equal heir with the sons and of giving her the best piece of property.

⁸ tn The words “What a joy it would be for me to” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied in the parallel structure.

⁹ tn Heb “the most beautiful heritage among the nations.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “my father.”

¹¹ tn Heb “turn back from [following] after me.”