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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Jeremiah 3 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/jeremiah/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/jeremiah/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > Jeremiah 3</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../jeremiah/2.htm" title="Jeremiah 2">◄</a> Jeremiah 3 <a href="../jeremiah/4.htm" title="Jeremiah 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/jeremiah/3.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="line1"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“If a man divorces a woman</p><p class="line2">and she goes and marries someone else,</p><p class="line1">he will not take her back again,</p><p class="line2">for that would surely corrupt the land.</p><p class="line1">But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,</p><p class="line2">so why are you trying to come back to me?”</p><p class="line2">says the LORD.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“Look at the shrines on every hilltop.</p><p class="line2">Is there any place you have not been defiled</p><p class="line2">by your adultery with other gods?</p><p class="line1">You sit like a prostitute beside the road waiting for a customer.</p><p class="line2">You sit alone like a nomad in the desert.</p><p class="line1">You have polluted the land with your prostitution</p><p class="line2">and your wickedness.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>That’s why even the spring rains have failed.</p><p class="line2">For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Yet you say to me,</p><p class="line2">‘Father, you have been my guide since my youth.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Surely you won’t be angry forever!</p><p class="line2">Surely you can forget about it!’</p><p class="line1">So you talk,</p><p class="line2">but you keep on doing all the evil you can.”</p><p class="hdg">Judah Follows Israel’s Example</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>She saw<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the LORD, have spoken!”</p><p class="hdg">Hope for Wayward Israel</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>Then the LORD said to me, “Even faithless Israel is less guilty than treacherous Judah! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Therefore, go and give this message to Israel.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a> This is what the LORD says:</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“O Israel, my faithless people,</p><p class="line2">come home to me again,</p><p class="line1">for I am merciful.</p><p class="line2">I will not be angry with you forever.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Only acknowledge your guilt.</p><p class="line2">Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God</p><p class="line1">and committed adultery against him</p><p class="line2">by worshiping idols under every green tree.</p><p class="line1">Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.</p><p class="line2">I, the LORD, have spoken!</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>“Return home, you wayward children,”</p><p class="line2">says the LORD,</p><p class="line2">“for I am your master.</p><p class="line1">I will bring you back to the land of Israel<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a>—</p><p class="line2">one from this town and two from that family—</p><p class="line2">from wherever you are scattered.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>And I will give you shepherds after my own heart,</p><p class="line2">who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.</p><p class="b"/><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>“And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the LORD, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the LORD.’ All nations will come there to honor the LORD. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance forever.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“I thought to myself,</p><p class="line2">‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’</p><p class="line1">I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land—</p><p class="line2">the finest possession in the world.</p><p class="line1">I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’</p><p class="line2">and I wanted you never to turn from me.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel!</p><p class="line2">You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.</p><p class="line2">I, the LORD, have spoken.”</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains,</p><p class="line2">the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people.</p><p class="line1">For they have chosen crooked paths</p><p class="line2">and have forgotten the LORD their God.</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>“My wayward children,” says the LORD,</p><p class="line2">“come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”</p><p class="b"/><p class="line1">“Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply,</p><p class="line2">“for you are the LORD our God.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>Our worship of idols on the hills</p><p class="line2">and our religious orgies on the mountains</p><p class="line2">are a delusion.</p><p class="line1">Only in the LORD our God</p><p class="line2">will Israel ever find salvation.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>From childhood we have watched</p><p class="line2">as everything our ancestors worked for—</p><p class="line1">their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—</p><p class="line2">was squandered on a delusion.</p><p class="line1"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/3-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>Let us now lie down in shame</p><p class="line2">and cover ourselves with dishonor,</p><p class="line1">for we and our ancestors have sinned</p><p class="line2">against the LORD our God.</p><p class="line1">From our childhood to this day</p><p class="line2">we have never obeyed him.”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:8 </span><span class="ft">As in Dead Sea Scrolls, one Greek manuscript, and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads </span><span class="it">I saw.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:12 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">toward the north.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:14 </span><span class="ft">Hebrew </span><span class="it">to Zion.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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