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Scripture · Old Testament

Jeremiah 3:20

Jeremiah 3:20 is verse 20 of Jeremiah chapter 3, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.

Berean Standard Bible

But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

BSB source and public domain terms

King James Version

Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.

World English Bible

“Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, house of Israel,” says Yahweh.

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Jeremiah 3:18–22 · Berean Standard Bible

18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance.

19 Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.

20 But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

21 A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.

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.

Read all of Jeremiah 3

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.

Hosea 3:1

Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.”

Jeremiah 3:1

“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.

Jeremiah 3:2

“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.

Jeremiah 3:8

She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.

Jeremiah 3:9

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

Jeremiah 3:10

Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 5:11

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly unfaithful to Me,” declares the LORD.

Isaiah 48:8

You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.

Ezekiel 16:15

But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking.

Ezekiel 16:16

You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!

Ezekiel 16:17

You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.

Ezekiel 16:18

You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them.

Ezekiel 16:19

And you set before them as a pleasing aroma the food I had given you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I had fed you. That is what happened, declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 16:20

You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

Ezekiel 16:21

You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols.

Ezekiel 16:22

And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood.

Ezekiel 16:23

Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness,

Ezekiel 16:24

you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.

Ezekiel 16:25

At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty. With increasing promiscuity, you spread your legs to all who passed by.

Ezekiel 16:26

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

Ezekiel 16:27

Therefore I stretched out My hand against you and reduced your portion. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd conduct.

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 16:30

How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute!

Ezekiel 16:31

But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

Ezekiel 16:32

You adulterous wife! You receive strangers instead of your own husband!

Ezekiel 16:33

Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.

Ezekiel 16:34

So your prostitution is the opposite of that of other women: No one solicited your favors, and you paid a fee instead of receiving one; so you are the very opposite!

Ezekiel 16:35

Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!

Ezekiel 16:36

This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,

Ezekiel 16:37

therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.

Ezekiel 16:38

And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy.

Ezekiel 16:39

Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

Ezekiel 16:40

They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

Ezekiel 16:41

Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.

Ezekiel 16:42

So I will lay to rest My wrath against you, and My jealousy will turn away from you. Then I will be calm and no longer angry.

Ezekiel 16:43

Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but enraged Me with all these things, I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed this lewdness on top of all your other abominations?

Ezekiel 16:44

Behold, all who speak in proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’

Ezekiel 16:45

You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

Ezekiel 16:46

Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to your north; and your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters to your south.

Ezekiel 16:47

And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.

Ezekiel 16:48

As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did as you and your daughters have done.

Ezekiel 16:49

Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.

Ezekiel 16:50

Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them, as you have seen.

Ezekiel 16:51

Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous.

Ezekiel 16:52

So now you must bear your disgrace, since you have brought justification for your sisters. For they appear more righteous than you, because your sins were more vile than theirs. So you too must bear your shame and disgrace, since you have made your sisters appear righteous.

Hosea 5:7

They have been unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their land.

Hosea 6:7

But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

Malachi 2:11

Judah has broken faith; an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the LORD’s beloved sanctuary by marrying the daughter of a foreign god.

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