Jeremiah 3 – “Oracles of Condemnation and Hope”

prostitution street nightHebrew-English Text

I. Summary

God finds Israel and Judah guilty but promises to bless them if they return to him.

II. Photo

Israel is likened to a prostitute: “You had the brazenness of a prostitute, you refused to be ashamed.” (v. 3)

III. Select Verses

8: I noted: Because Rebel Israel had committed adultery, I cast her off and handed her a bill of divorce; yet her sister, Faithless Judah, was not afraid — she too went and whored.

11: And the LORD said to me: Rebel Israel has shown herself more in the right than Faithless Judah.

15: And I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will pasture you with knowledge and skill.

18: In those days, the House of Judah shall go with the House of Israel; they shall come together from the land of the north to the land I gave your fathers as a possession.

19- 20: I had resolved to adopt you as My child, and I gave you a desirable land — the fairest heritage of all the nations; and I thought you would surely call Me “Father,” and never cease to be loyal to Me.  Instead, you have broken faith with Me, as a woman breaks faith with a paramour, O House of Israel — declares the LORD.

22b-25: “Here we are, we come to You, For You, O LORD, are our God! Surely, futility comes from the hills, Confusion from the mountains. Only through the LORD our God Is there deliverance for Israel. But the Shameful Thing has consumed The possessions of our fathers ever since our youth — Their flocks and herds, Their sons and daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, Let our disgrace cover us; For we have sinned against the LORD our God, We and our fathers from our youth to this day, And we have not heeded the LORD our God.”

IV. Outline

1-5. Oracle #1

    1-2. Metaphor: Israel has been with other lovers

    3a. Rain has not come

    3b-5. Israel has not been ashamed

6-20. Oracle #2

    6a. Introduction

    6b-10. Judah has played the whore like Israel

    11a. Continuation

    11b. Israel is more just than Judah

    12-13. Message for Israel: return and acknowledge your guilt

    14-19. Positive consequences

        14. People will be returned to Jerusalem

        15. Proper leaders

        16. The ark will not be missed

        17. Jerusalem will be for all nations

        18-19. Israel and Judah will reunite

    19-20. Instead of being a son, Israel has been an adulteress

21-25. Jeremiah’s message

    21-22a. Call to return

    22-25. Anticipated confession and prayer

   

V. Comment

No comment today. Stay tuned.

VI. Works Used

(see “Commentaries” page)

Photo taken from http://www.rantlifestyle.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/prostitution1.jpg