ESV Global Study Bible :: Footnotes for Jeremiah 3

Jer. 3:1 Jeremiah may have Deut. 24:1–4 in mind, which answers the first question (will he return to her?) negatively and the second question (Would not that land be greatly polluted?) positively. With the words played the whore (see Jer. 2:20; 13:27), Jeremiah uses the image of Judah as God’s unfaithful wife. Israel tries to alternate between God and idols (2:25, 27, 35–36), but God rejects this arrangement. Israel must commit herself exclusively to God.

Jer. 3:6 God speaks to Jeremiah in the days of King Josiah (after 627 b.c.; see 1:1–3) concerning the faithlessness of Israel, the northern kingdom. Israel played the whore by worshiping idols everywhere possible (2:20).

Jer. 3:12 God appoints Jeremiah to make an extraordinary offer of grace to the fallen, exiled northern tribes, now scattered in the north (in foreign lands). They should repent, since he will not deal with them angrily, for he is merciful.

Jer. 3:14 God asks the faithless children (literally, “the turning-away ones”) to turn, or return, to him. If Israel will return, he will take her one from a city and two from a family . . . to Zion. This minority of ones and twos will be the true people of God (Isa. 6:11–13; 10:20–23).

Jer. 3:15 God will give this remnant (see note on v. 14) shepherds after his own heart, that is, leaders like David in whom God takes delight (1 Sam. 13:14). These shepherds will feed the people with knowledge and understanding, the very qualities they lacked when they turned from God and followed false teachers and priests (Hos. 4:1–3). Shepherds are a recurring theme in Jeremiah (Jer. 10:21; 23:1–4; 50:6; see Ezekiel 34). The term can refer specifically to civil leaders, such as the king (2 Sam. 5:2), or to leaders more generally (civil and religious). All were charged with leading God’s people to show his holiness in their personal and corporate lives. The people need faithful shepherds, and God will supply them after the exile.

Jer. 3:16 Israel’s exiles long for the ark of the covenant of the Lord in the temple at Jerusalem, for they consider it God’s symbolic throne (2 Kings 19:15). In the days of restoration it will not come to mind and it shall not be made again. Whatever happens to the ark, it will no longer be essential to godly worship.

Jer. 3:17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, thereby replacing the symbolic function of the ark. Then all nations shall gather to it (to Jerusalem; Isa. 2:1–5), and those who live there will be faithful to God (Isa. 4:2–6). This Jerusalem is ultimately the new Jerusalem, where God’s people will live with him forever in the total absence of sin (Isa. 65:17–25; Rev. 21:1–8).

Jer. 3:21 Suddenly, a sound of the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons arises from the bare heights. Israel’s sons finally recognize that they have perverted their way and have forgotten the Lord their God.

Jer. 3:22 God counsels the Israelites to return (repent) so he can heal their faithlessness, their worship of other gods. Here forgiveness is compared to physical healing (30:17; 33:6; Hos. 6:1; 14:4). Behold, we come to you. Israel responds positively by confessing that the Lord is their God.

Jer. 3:23 The Israelites also acknowledge that only God is the salvation of Israel. They further pledge sole loyalty to their covenant husband, as he asked them to do in vv. 11–18.

Jer. 3:25 The Israelites complete their confession by admitting that they deserve only shame and dishonor (Ps. 51:4). God was just in punishing them.