Discovery BoxJeremiah 3:1 
Context3:1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again. 1
Doing that would utterly defile the land. 2
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. 3
So what makes you think you can return to me?” 4
says the Lord.
Jeremiah 3:8-9
Context3:8 She also saw 5 that I gave wayward Israel her divorce papers and sent her away because of her adulterous worship of other gods. 6 Even after her unfaithful sister Judah had seen this, 7 she still was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. 8 3:9 Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land 9 through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. 10
Jeremiah 3:20
Context3:20 But, you have been unfaithful to me, nation of Israel, 11
like an unfaithful wife who has left her husband,” 12
says the Lord.
1 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.
2 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.
3 tn Heb “But you have played the prostitute with many lovers.”
4 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.
5 tc Heb “she [‘her sister, unfaithful Judah’ from the preceding verse] saw” with one Hebrew
6 tn Heb “because she committed adultery.” The translation is intended to spell out the significance of the metaphor.
7 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.
8 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.
9 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.
10 tn Heb “because of the lightness of her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.”
11 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
12 tn Heb “a wife unfaithful from her husband.”
