Jeremiah 3:1

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Jeremiah 3:1–3 · Berean Standard Bible

1 “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.

2 “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Deuteronomy 24:1

If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds some indecency in her, he may write her a certificate of divorce, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.

Deuteronomy 24:2

If, after leaving his house, she goes and becomes another man’s wife,

Deuteronomy 24:3

and the second man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house, or if he dies,

Deuteronomy 24:4

then the husband who divorced her first may not remarry her after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination to the LORD. You must not bring sin upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Jeremiah 3:9

Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

Jeremiah 2:7

I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land, and made My inheritance detestable.

Leviticus 18:24

Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves.

Leviticus 18:25

Even the land has become defiled, so I am punishing it for its sin, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.

Leviticus 18:26

But you are to keep My statutes and ordinances, and you must not commit any of these abominations—neither your native-born nor the foreigner who lives among you.

Leviticus 18:27

For the men who were in the land before you committed all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.

Leviticus 18:28

So if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it spewed out the nations before you.

Isaiah 24:5

The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant.

Micah 2:10

Arise and depart, for this is not your place of rest, because its defilement brings destruction— a grievous destruction!

Jeremiah 2:20

“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.

Jeremiah 2:23

“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,

Deuteronomy 22:21

she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.

Judges 19:2

But she was unfaithful to him and left him to return to her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. After she had been there four months,

Ezekiel 16:26

You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.

Ezekiel 16:28

Then you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, because you were not yet satisfied. Even after that, you were still not satisfied.

Ezekiel 16:29

So you extended your promiscuity to Chaldea, the land of merchants—but even with this you were not satisfied!

Ezekiel 23:4

The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 23:5

Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

Ezekiel 23:6

clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds.

Ezekiel 23:7

She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted.

Ezekiel 23:8

She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.

Ezekiel 23:9

Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

Ezekiel 23:10

They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.

Ezekiel 23:11

Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.

Ezekiel 23:12

She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men.

Ezekiel 23:13

And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

Ezekiel 23:14

But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,

Ezekiel 23:15

wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

Ezekiel 23:16

At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

Ezekiel 23:17

Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

Ezekiel 23:18

When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

Ezekiel 23:19

Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt

Ezekiel 23:20

and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

Ezekiel 23:21

So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.

Ezekiel 23:22

Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—

Ezekiel 23:23

the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses.

Ezekiel 23:24

They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards.

Ezekiel 23:25

And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.

Ezekiel 23:26

They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry.

Ezekiel 23:27

So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

Ezekiel 23:28

For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.

Ezekiel 23:29

They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity

Ezekiel 23:30

have brought these things upon you, because you have prostituted yourself with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

Ezekiel 23:31

Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’

Ezekiel 23:32

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.

Ezekiel 23:33

You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

Ezekiel 23:34

You will drink it and drain it; you will dash it to pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 23:35

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’”

Ezekiel 23:36

Then the LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.

Ezekiel 23:37

For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols.

Ezekiel 23:38

They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.

Ezekiel 23:39

On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house.

Ezekiel 23:40

Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.

Ezekiel 23:41

You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil,

Ezekiel 23:42

accompanied by the sound of a carefree crowd. Drunkards were brought in from the desert along with men from the rabble, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your head.

Ezekiel 23:43

Then I said of her who had grown old in adulteries: ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is!’

Ezekiel 23:44

And they slept with her as with a prostitute; they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, those lewd women.

Ezekiel 23:45

But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands.

Ezekiel 23:46

This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder.

Ezekiel 23:47

The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

Ezekiel 23:48

So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior.

Ezekiel 23:49

They will repay you for your indecency, and you will bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”

Hosea 1:2

When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

Hosea 2:5

For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’

Hosea 2:6

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way.

Hosea 2:7

She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’

Jeremiah 3:12

Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever.

Jeremiah 3:13

Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 3:14

“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion.

Jeremiah 3:22

“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 4:1

“If you will return, O Israel, return to Me,” declares the LORD. “If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight and no longer waver,

Jeremiah 4:14

Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

Jeremiah 8:4

So you are to tell them this is what the LORD says: “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not return?

Jeremiah 8:5

Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.

Jeremiah 8:6

I have listened and heard; they do not speak what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has pursued his own course like a horse charging into battle.

Deuteronomy 4:29

But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:30

When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.

Deuteronomy 4:31

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.

Isaiah 55:6

Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.

Isaiah 55:7

Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

Isaiah 55:8

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.

Isaiah 55:9

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

Ezekiel 33:11

Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

Hosea 14:1

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

Hosea 14:2

Bring your confessions and return to the LORD. Say to Him: “Take away all our iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may present the fruit of our lips.

Hosea 14:3

Assyria will not save us, nor will we ride on horses. We will never again say, ‘Our gods!’ to the work of our own hands. For in You the fatherless find compassion.”

Hosea 14:4

I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.

Zechariah 1:3

So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’

Luke 15:16

He longed to fill his belly with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him a thing.

Luke 15:17

Finally he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have plenty of food? But here I am, starving to death!

Luke 15:18

I will get up and go back to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.

Luke 15:19

I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

Luke 15:20

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.

Luke 15:21

The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

Luke 15:22

But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Luke 15:23

Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and celebrate.

Luke 15:24

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.