the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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THE MESSAGE
Jeremiah 3:1
Bible Study Resources
Concordances:
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- CondensedParallel Translations
If a man divorces his wife
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again? Won't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the LORD.
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord .
"If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the Lord .
God says, "If a husband divorces his wife And she leaves him And becomes another man's wife, Will he return to her again? Would that land not be completely defiled? But you are a prostitute with many lovers; Yet you turn to Me," declares the LORD.
"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should her first husband come back to her again? If he went back to her, wouldn't the land become completely unclean? But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers, and now you want to come back to me?" says the Lord .
That is to say, "If a man divorces his wife And she goes [away] from him And becomes another man's [wife], Will he return to her again? [Of course not!] Will not that land [where such a thing happened] be completely desecrated? But you [rebelled against Me and you] are a prostitute with many lovers; Yet you turn to Me." says the LORD.
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return to her again? Won't that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me, says Yahweh.
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she goe from him, and become another mans, shall hee returne againe vnto her? shall not this land be polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many louers: yet turne againe to mee, sayeth the Lord.
God says, "If a husband divorces his wifeAnd she goes from himAnd belongs to another man,Will he still return to her?Will not that land be completely polluted?But you are a harlot with many lovers;Yet you turn to Me," declares Yahweh.
"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers-and you would return to Me?" declares the LORD.
The Lord said to the people of Israel: If a divorced woman marries, can her first husband ever marry her again? No, because this would pollute the land. But you have more gods than a prostitute has lovers. Why should I take you back?
[ Adonai ] says: "If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and marries another man, then if the first one marries her again, that land will be completely defiled. But you prostituted yourself to many lovers, yet you want to return to me?" says Adonai .
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? Would not that land be utterly polluted? But thou hast committed fornication with many lovers; yet return to me, saith Jehovah.
"If a man divorces his wife and she goes and marries someone else, the first husband cannot take her back. If he did, it would make the land unclean. Judah, you and all your false gods are like a prostitute with many lovers! So why do you think you can come back to me?" This message is from the Lord .
IF a man put away his wife, and she go from him and become another mans wife, and he return to her again, behold, the land shall be defiled. But you have committed adultery with many rulers; return again to me, says the LORD.
The Lord says, "If a man divorces his wife, and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he cannot take her back again. This would completely defile the land. But, Israel, you have had many lovers, and now you want to return to me!
A saying: ‘Look, if a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and she becomes another man's wife, will he return to her again?' Will not that land be greatly defiled? And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, would you now return to me?" declares Yahweh.
They say, If a man sends away his wife, and she goes from him and will be for another man, will he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly defiled? But you play the harlot withmany lovers; yet would you come backto Me, says Jehovah.
Comonly, when a man putteth awaye his wife, and she goeth from him, and marieth with another, then the question is: shulde he resorte vnto her eny more after that? Is not this felde then defyled and vnclene? But as for the, thou hast played the harlot with many louers, yet turne agayne to me, saieth the LORDE.
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith Jehovah.
They say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he go back to her again? will not that land have been made unclean? but though you have been acting like a loose woman with a number of lovers, will you now come back to me? says the Lord.
... saying: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, may he return unto her again? Will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; and wouldest thou yet return to Me? saith the LORD.
They say; If a man put away his wife, and she goe from him, and become another mans, shall hee returne vnto her againe? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many louers; yet returne againe to me, saith the Lord.
Commonly when a man putteth away his wyfe, and she goeth from hym & maryeth with another, then the question is: shoulde he resort vnto her any more after that? (Is not that lande then defiled and vncleane?) But as for thee thou hast played the harlot with many louers, yet turne agayne to me, saith the Lorde.
If a man put away his wife, and she depart from him, and become another man’s, shall she return to him any more at all? shall not that woman be utterly defiled? ye thou hast gone a-whoring with many shepherds, and hast returned to me, saith the Lord.
They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
It is seid comunli, If a man forsakith his wijf, and sche go awei fro hym, and be weddid to an othere hosebonde, whether he schal turne ayen more to hir? whether thilke womman schal not be defoulid, and maad vncleene? Forsothe thou hast do fornycacioun with many loueris; netheles turne thou ayen to me, `seith the Lord, and Y schal resseyue thee.
They say, If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man's, will he return to her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But you have prostituted with many lovers; yet return again to me, says Yahweh.
They say, If a man shall put away his wife, and she shall go from him, and become another man's, shall he return to her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?" says the Lord .
"They say, "If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man's, May he return to her again?' Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me," says the LORD.
"If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?" says the Lord .
God says, "If a husband divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be made unclean? But you are like a sinful woman with many lovers, yet would you return to Me?" says the Lord.
If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not such a land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? says the Lord .
He hath said, If a man send away his wife, and she go from him and become another man's, will he return unto her, again? would not that land be, utterly defiled? And, thou, hast been unchaste with many neighbours, and yet thinkest to return unto me! Declareth Yahweh.
It is commonly said: If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and marry another man, shall he return to her any more? shall not that woman be polluted, and defiled? but thou hast prostituted thyself to many lovers: nevertheless return to me, saith the Lord, and I will receive thee.
"If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the harlot with many lovers; and would you return to me? says the LORD.
Saying, `Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah.
God says, "If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man, Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted? But you are a harlot with many lovers; Yet you turn to Me," declares the LORD.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
They say: Heb. Saying
If a man: Deuteronomy 24:1-4
shall not that: Jeremiah 3:9, Jeremiah 2:7, Leviticus 18:24-28, Isaiah 24:5, Micah 2:10
but thou hast: Jeremiah 2:20, Jeremiah 2:23, Deuteronomy 22:21, Judges 19:2, Ezekiel 16:26, Ezekiel 16:28, Ezekiel 16:29, Ezekiel 23:4-49, Hosea 1:2, Hosea 2:5-7
yet return: Jeremiah 3:12-14, Jeremiah 3:22, Jeremiah 4:1, Jeremiah 4:14, Jeremiah 8:4-6, Deuteronomy 4:29-31, Isaiah 55:6-9, Ezekiel 33:11, Hosea 14:1-4, Zechariah 1:3, Luke 15:16-24
Reciprocal: Genesis 38:24 - played the harlot Leviticus 17:7 - gone a whoring Numbers 14:33 - bear Deuteronomy 24:4 - Her former Deuteronomy 31:16 - and go a Judges 19:3 - to bring 1 Samuel 12:20 - turn not Psalms 106:39 - went Isaiah 1:21 - become Isaiah 44:22 - return Isaiah 50:1 - the bill Isaiah 55:8 - General Jeremiah 2:33 - Why Jeremiah 3:6 - played Jeremiah 3:8 - when for Jeremiah 3:14 - for I am married Jeremiah 3:20 - so have Jeremiah 11:13 - For according Jeremiah 11:15 - seeing Jeremiah 13:27 - thine adulteries Jeremiah 14:10 - have they Jeremiah 16:18 - they have defiled Jeremiah 18:11 - return Ezekiel 16:15 - and playedst Ezekiel 16:32 - General Ezekiel 16:35 - O harlot Ezekiel 36:17 - they defiled Hosea 2:2 - let Hosea 2:7 - first Hosea 3:1 - friend Hosea 4:12 - gone Zechariah 5:7 - is Matthew 5:31 - whosoever Matthew 19:9 - doth Mark 10:4 - General 1 Corinthians 7:11 - or
Cross-References
"The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."
At that time God will unsheathe his sword, his merciless, massive, mighty sword. He'll punish the serpent Leviathan as it flees, the serpent Leviathan thrashing in flight. He'll kill that old dragon that lives in the sea.
"Stay alert. This is hazardous work I'm assigning you. You're going to be like sheep running through a wolf pack, so don't call attention to yourselves. Be as cunning as a snake, inoffensive as a dove.
Pseudo-Servants of God Will you put up with a little foolish aside from me? Please, just for a moment. The thing that has me so upset is that I care about you so much—this is the passion of God burning inside me! I promised your hand in marriage to Christ, presented you as a pure virgin to her husband. And now I'm afraid that exactly as the Snake seduced Eve with his smooth patter, you are being lured away from the simple purity of your love for Christ. It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot "apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on everything. I wonder, did I make a bad mistake in proclaiming God's Message to you without asking for something in return, serving you free of charge so that you wouldn't be inconvenienced by me? It turns out that the other churches paid my way so that you could have a free ride. Not once during the time I lived among you did anyone have to lift a finger to help me out. My needs were always supplied by the believers from Macedonia province. I was careful never to be a burden to you, and I never will be, you can count on it. With Christ as my witness, it's a point of honor with me, and I'm not going to keep it quiet just to protect you from what the neighbors will think. It's not that I don't love you; God knows I do. I'm just trying to keep things open and honest between us. And I'm not changing my position on this. I'd die before taking your money. I'm giving nobody grounds for lumping me in with those money-grubbing "preachers," vaunting themselves as something special. They're a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ's agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn't surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they're not getting by with anything. They'll pay for it in the end. Let me come back to where I started—and don't hold it against me if I continue to sound a little foolish. Or if you'd rather, just accept that I am a fool and let me rant on a little. I didn't learn this kind of talk from Christ. Oh, no, it's a bad habit I picked up from the three-ring preachers that are so popular these days. Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along. You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn't admit it to you, but our stomachs aren't strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff. Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I'm their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can't believe I'm saying these things. It's crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I'm going to finish.) I've worked much harder, been jailed more often, beaten up more times than I can count, and at death's door time after time. I've been flogged five times with the Jews' thirty-nine lashes, beaten by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks once. I've been shipwrecked three times, and immersed in the open sea for a night and a day. In hard traveling year in and year out, I've had to ford rivers, fend off robbers, struggle with friends, struggle with foes. I've been at risk in the city, at risk in the country, endangered by desert sun and sea storm, and betrayed by those I thought were my brothers. I've known drudgery and hard labor, many a long and lonely night without sleep, many a missed meal, blasted by the cold, naked to the weather. And that's not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches. When someone gets to the end of his rope, I feel the desperation in my bones. When someone is duped into sin, an angry fire burns in my gut. If I have to "brag" about myself, I'll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus. The eternal and blessed God and Father of our Master Jesus knows I'm not lying. Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretas posted guards at the city gates to arrest me? I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life.
The same goes for you husbands: Be good husbands to your wives. Honor them, delight in them. As women they lack some of your advantages. But in the new life of God's grace, you're equals. Treat your wives, then, as equals so your prayers don't run aground.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
They say, if a man put away his wife,.... Or, "saying" w; wherefore some connect those words with the last verse of the preceding chapter, as if they were a continuation of what the Lord had been there saying, that he would reject their confidences; so Kimchi; but they seem rather to begin a new section, or a paragraph, with what were commonly said among men, or in the law, and as the sense of that; that if a man divorced his wife upon any occasion,
and she go from him; departs from his house, and is separated from bed and board with him:
and become another man's, be married to another, as she might according to the law:
shall he return unto her again? take her to be his wife again; her latter husband not liking her, or being dead? no, he will not; he might not according to the law in Deuteronomy 24:4 and if there was no law respecting this, it can hardly be thought that he would, it being so contrary to nature, and to the order of civil society:
shall not that land be greatly polluted? either Judea, or any other, where such usages should obtain; for this, according to the law, was causing the land to sin, filling it with it, and making it liable to punishment for it; this being an abomination before the Lord. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it, "shall not that woman be defiled?" she is so by the latter husband; and that is a reason why she is not to be received by the former again, Deuteronomy 24:4:
but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; or served many idols; the number of their gods having been according to the number of their cities, Jeremiah 2:28:
yet return again to me, saith the Lord; by repentance, and doing their first works, worshipping and serving him as formerly; so the Targum,
"return now from this time to my worship, saith the Lord.''
The Vulgate Latin version adds, "and I will receive thee"; this is an instance of great grace in the Lord, and which is not to be found among men.
w לאמור "dicendo", Montanus, Vatablus, Janius & Tremellius
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
They say - Or, That is to say. The prophet has completed his survey of Israel’s conduct, and draws the conclusion that as an adulterous wife could not be taken back by her husband, so Israel has forfeited her part in the covenant with God. Apparently the opening word, which literally means “to say,” only introduces the quotation in the margin.
Yet return again to me - Or, “and thinkest thou to return unto me!” The whole argument is not of mercy, but is the proof that after her repeated adulteries, Israel could not again take her place as wife. To think of returning to God, with the marriage-law unrepealed, was folly.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER III
The first five verses of this chapter allude to the subject of
the last; and contain earnest exhortations to repentance, with
gracious promises of pardon, notwithstanding every aggravation
of guilt, 1-5.
At the sixth verse a new section of prophecy commences, opening
with a complaint against Judah for having exceeded in guilt her
sister Israel, already cast off for her idolatry, 6-11.
She is cast off, but not forever; for to this same Israel,
whose place of captivity (Assyria) lay to the north of Judea,
pardon is promised on her repentance, together with a
restoration to the Church of God, along with her sister Judah,
in the latter days, 12-20.
The prophet foretells the sorrow and repentance of the children
of Israel under the Gospel dispensation, 21.
God renews his gracious promises, 22;
and they again confess their sins. In this confession their not
deigning to name the idol Baal, the source of their calamities,
but calling him in the abstract shame, or a thing of shame, is
a nice touch of the perusal extremely beautiful and natural,
22-25.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse Jeremiah 3:1. If a man put away his wife — It was ever understood, by the law and practice of the country, that if a woman were divorced by her husband, and became the wife of another man, the first husband could never take her again. Now Israel had been married unto the Lord; joined in solemn covenant to him to worship and serve him only. Israel turned from following him, and became idolatrous. On this ground, considering idolatry as a spiritual whoredom, and the precept and practice of the law to illustrate this case, Israel could never more be restored to the Divine favour: but God, this first husband, in the plenitude of his mercy, is willing to receive this adulterous spouse, if she will abandon her idolatries and return unto him. And this and the following chapters are spent in affectionate remonstrances and loving exhortations addressed to these sinful people, to make them sensible of their own sin, and God's tender mercy in offering to receive them again into favour.
