Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:20--3:11 
Context2:20 “Indeed, 1 long ago you threw off my authority
and refused to be subject to me. 2
You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ 3
Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill
and under every green tree,
like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. 4
2:21 I planted you in the land
like a special vine of the very best stock.
Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine
that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes? 5
2:22 You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent.
You can use as much soap as you want.
But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,” 6
says the Lord God. 7
2:23 “How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean.
I have not paid allegiance to 8 the gods called Baal.’
Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! 9
Think about the things you have done there!
You are like a flighty, young female camel
that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. 10
2:24 You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness.
In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. 11
No one can hold her back when she is in heat.
None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her.
At mating time she is easy to find. 12
2:25 Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out
and your throats become dry. 13
But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me
because I love those foreign gods 14 and want to pursue them!’
2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,
so the people of Israel 15 will suffer dishonor for what they have done. 16
So will their kings and officials,
their priests and their prophets.
2:27 They say to a wooden idol, 17 ‘You are my father.’
They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ 18
Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. 19
Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’
2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?
Let them save you when you are in trouble.
The sad fact is that 20 you have as many gods
as you have towns, Judah.
2:29 “Why do you try to refute me? 21
All of you have rebelled against me,”
says the Lord.
2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.
They did not respond to such correction.
You slaughtered your prophets
like a voracious lion.” 22
2:31 You people of this generation,
listen to what the Lord says.
“Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel?
Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? 23
Why then do you 24 say, ‘We are free to wander. 25
We will not come to you any more?’
2:32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?
Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?
But my people have forgotten me
for more days than can even be counted.
2:33 “My, how good you have become
at chasing after your lovers! 26
Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! 27
2:34 Even your clothes are stained with
the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong;
you did not catch them breaking into your homes. 28
Yet, in spite of all these things you have done, 29
2:35 you say, ‘I have not done anything wrong,
so the Lord cannot really be angry with me any more.’
But, watch out! 30 I will bring down judgment on you
because you say, ‘I have not committed any sin.’
2:36 Why do you constantly go about
changing your political allegiances? 31
You will get no help from Egypt
just as you got no help from Assyria. 32
2:37 Moreover, you will come away from Egypt
with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame 33
because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful
and you will not gain any help from them. 34
3:1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again. 35
Doing that would utterly defile the land. 36
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. 37
So what makes you think you can return to me?” 38
says the Lord.
3:2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. 39
You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. 40
You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. 41
You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods. 42
3:3 That is why the rains have been withheld,
and the spring rains have not come.
Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. 43
You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.
3:4 Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! 44
You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.
3:5 You will not always be angry with me, will you?
You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ 45
That is what you say,
but you continually do all the evil that you can.” 46
3:6 When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. 47 You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. 48 3:7 Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. 49 But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. 50 3:8 She also saw 51 that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. 52 Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, 53 she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. 54 3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land 55 through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. 56 3:10 In spite of all this, 57 Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” 58 says the Lord. 3:11 Then the Lord said to me, “Under the circumstances, wayward Israel could even be considered less guilty than unfaithful Judah. 59
1 tn Or “For.” The Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) here introduces the evidence that they had no respect for him.
2 tn Heb “you broke your yoke…tore off your yoke ropes.” The metaphor is that of a recalcitrant ox or heifer which has broken free from its master.
3 tc The MT of this verse has two examples of the old second feminine singular perfect, שָׁבַרְתִּי (shavarti) and נִתַּקְתִּי (nittaqti), which the Masoretes mistook for first singulars leading to the proposal to read אֶעֱבוֹר (’e’evor, “I will not transgress”) for אֶעֱבֹד (’e’evod, “I will not serve”). The latter understanding of the forms is accepted in KJV but rejected by almost all modern English versions as being less appropriate to the context than the reading accepted in the translation given here.
4 tn Heb “you sprawled as a prostitute on….” The translation reflects the meaning of the metaphor.
5 tc Heb “I planted you as a choice vine, all of it true seed. How then have you turned into a putrid thing to me, a strange [or wild] vine.” The question expresses surprise and consternation. The translation is based on a redivision of the Hebrew words סוּרֵי הַגֶּפֶן (sure haggefen) into סוֹרִיָּה גֶּפֶן (soriyyah gefen) and the recognition of a hapax legomenon סוֹרִיָּה (soriyyah) meaning “putrid, stinking thing.” See HALOT 707 s.v. סוֹרִי.
6 tn Heb “Even if you wash with natron/lye, and use much soap, your sin is a stain before me.”
7 tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.” For an explanation of this title see the study notes on 1:6.
8 tn Heb “I have not gone/followed after.” See the translator’s note on 2:5 for the meaning and usage of this idiom.
9 tn Heb “Look at your way in the valley.” The valley is an obvious reference to the Valley of Hinnom where Baal and Molech were worshiped and child sacrifice was practiced.
10 sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s lack of clear direction and purpose without the
11 tn The words “to get the scent of a male” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
12 sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s irrepressible desire to worship other gods.
13 tn Heb “Refrain your feet from being bare and your throat from being dry/thirsty.”
14 tn Heb “It is useless! No!” For this idiom, see Jer 18:12; NEB “No; I am desperate.”
15 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
16 tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
17 tn Heb “wood…stone…”
18 sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”
19 tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”
20 tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.
21 sn This is still part of the
22 tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.
23 tn Heb “a land of the darkness of Yah [= thick or deep darkness].” The idea of danger is an added connotation of the word in this context.
24 tn Heb “my people.”
25 tn Or more freely, “free to do as we please.” There is some debate about the meaning of this verb (רוּד, rud) because its usage is rare and its meaning is debated in the few passages where it does occur. The key to its meaning may rest in the emended text (reading וְרַדְתִּי [vÿradti] for וְיָרַדְתִּי [vÿyaradti]) in Judg 11:37 where it refers to the roaming of Jephthah’s daughter on the mountains of Israel.
26 tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”
27 tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”
28 tn The words “for example” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarification. This is only one example of why their death was not legitimate.
sn Killing a thief caught in the act of breaking and entering into a person’s home was pardonable under the law of Moses, cf. Exod 22:2.
29 tn KJV and ASV read this line with 2:34. The ASV makes little sense and the KJV again erroneously reads the archaic second person feminine singular perfect as first person common singular. All the modern English versions and commentaries take this line with 2:35.
30 tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle often translated “behold” (הִנֵּה, hinneh) in a meaningful way in this context. See further the translator’s note on the word “really” in 1:6.
31 tn Heb “changing your way.” The translation follows the identification of the Hebrew verb here as a defective writing of a form (תֵּזְלִי [tezÿli] instead of תֵּאזְלִי [te’zÿli]) from a verb meaning “go/go about” (אָזַל [’azal]; cf. BDB 23 s.v. אָזַל). Most modern English versions, commentaries, and lexicons read it from a root meaning “to treat cheaply [or lightly]” (תָּזֵלִּי [tazelli] from the root זָלַל (zalal); cf. HALOT 261 s.v. זָלַל); hence, “Why do you consider it such a small matter to…”
32 tn Heb “You will be ashamed/disappointed by Egypt, just as you were ashamed/ disappointed by Assyria.”
33 tn Heb “with your hands on your head.” For the picture here see 2 Sam 13:19.
34 tn Heb “The
35 tn Heb “May he go back to her again?” The question is rhetorical and expects a negative answer.
sn For the legal background for the illustration that is used here see Deut 24:1-4.
36 tn Heb “Would the land not be utterly defiled?” The stative is here rendered actively to connect better with the preceding. The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
37 tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”
38 tn Heb “Returning to me.” The form is the bare infinitive which the KJV and ASV have interpreted as an imperative “Yet, return to me!” However, it is more likely that a question is intended, expressing surprise in the light of the law alluded to and the facts cited. For the use of the infinitive absolute in the place of a finite verb, cf. GKC 346 §113.ee. For the introduction of a question without a question marker, cf. GKC 473 §150.a.
39 tn Heb “and see.”
40 tn Heb “Where have you not been ravished?” The rhetorical question expects the answer “nowhere,” which suggests she has engaged in the worship of pagan gods on every one of the hilltops.
41 tn Heb “You sat for them [the lovers, i.e., the foreign gods] beside the road like an Arab in the desert.”
42 tn Heb “by your prostitution and your wickedness.” This is probably an example of hendiadys where, when two nouns are joined by “and,” one expresses the main idea and the other qualifies it.
43 tn Heb “you have the forehead of a prostitute.”
44 tn Heb “Have you not just now called out to me, ‘[you are] my father!’?” The rhetorical question expects a positive answer.
45 tn Heb “Will he keep angry forever? Will he maintain [it] to the end?” The questions are rhetorical and expect a negative answer. The change to direct address in the English translation is intended to ease the problem of the rapid transition, common in Hebrew style (but not in English), from second person direct address in the preceding lines to third person indirect address in these two lines. See GKC 462 §144.p.
46 tn Heb “You do the evil and you are able.” This is an example of hendiadys, meaning “You do all the evil that you are able to do.”
47 tn “Have you seen…” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer.
48 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
49 tn Or “I said to her, ‘Come back to me!’” The verb אָמַר (’amar) usually means “to say,” but here it means “to think,” of an assumption that turns out to be wrong (so HALOT 66.4 s.v. אמר); cf. Gen 44:28; Jer 3:19; Pss 82:6; 139:11; Job 29:18; Ruth 4:4; Lam 3:18.
sn Open theists suggest that passages such as this indicate God has limited foreknowledge; however, more traditional theologians view this passage as an extended metaphor in which God presents himself as a deserted husband, hoping against hope that his adulterous wife might return to him. The point of the metaphor is not to make an assertion about God’s foreknowledge, but to develop the theme of God’s heartbreak due to Israel’s unrepentance.
50 tn The words “what she did” are not in the text but are implicit from the context and are supplied in the translation for clarification.
51 tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew
52 tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.
53 tn The words “Even after her unfaithful sister, Judah, had seen this” are not in the Hebrew text but are implicit in the connection and are supplied for clarification.
54 tn Heb “she played the prostitute there.” This is a metaphor for Israel’s worship; she gave herself to the worship of other gods like a prostitute gives herself to her lovers. There seems no clear way to completely spell out the metaphor in the translation.
55 tc The translation reads the form as a causative (Hiphil, תַּהֲנֵף, tahanef) with some of the versions in place of the simple stative (Qal, תֶּחֱנַף, tekhenaf) in the MT.
56 tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
57 tn Heb “And even in all this.”
58 tn Heb “ has not turned back to me with all her heart but only in falsehood.”
59 tn Heb “Wayward Israel has proven herself to be more righteous than unfaithful Judah.”
sn A comparison is drawn here between the greater culpability of Judah, who has had the advantage of seeing how God disciplined her sister nation for having sinned and yet ignored the warning and committed the same sin, and the culpability of Israel who had no such advantage.
