Jeremiah 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.

Isa 1:9; Isa 6:13; Isa 10:22; Isa 11:11,12; Isa 17:6; Isa 24:13-15; Isa 54:5; Jer 2:2; Jer 2:19; Jer 3:1,8; Jer 23:3; Jer 31:8-10; Jer 31:32; Eze 34:11-14; Ho 2:19,20; Zec 13:7-9; Ro 9:27; Ro 11:4-6

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.