Jeremiah 3:2

Sin

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.

“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.

⁴ Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: “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.
KJV: Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
WEB: “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been lain with? You have sat waiting for them by the road, as an Arabian in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your prostitution and with your wickedness.
ASV: Lift up thine eyes unto the bare heights, and see; where hast thou not been lain with? By the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
DARBY: Lift up thine eyes unto the heights and see, where hast thou not been lain with? In the ways hast thou sat for them, as an Arab in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy fornications and with thy wickedness.
BLB: “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see; where have you not been violated? Along the pathway you have sat for them, like an Arabian in the desert, and you have defiled the land with your prostitution and with your evil.

ÅB: Løft dine øyne til de bare hauger og se: Hvor er du ikke blitt vanæret? Ved veiene satt du og ventet på dem, som en araber i ørkenen, og du vanhelliget landet ved ditt hor og din ondskap.
OTB: “Se opp til de karrige høydene og tenk etter: er det noe sted du ikke har blitt krenket? Du har ventet ved veikantene etter elskere, som en nomade i ørkenen, og du har forurenset landet med din prostitusjon og ondskap.
B1930: Løft dine øine til de bare hauger og se: Hvor er du ikke blitt vanæret? Ved veiene satt du og ventet på dem, som en araber i ørkenen, og du vanhelliget landet ved ditt hor og din ondskap.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Ezekiel 16:24–25
you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.
Read in context
Genesis 38:14
she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
Read in context
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.
Read in context
Ezekiel 8:4–6
And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the plain.
Read in context
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.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 12:2
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
Read in context
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.
Read in context
Proverbs 23:28
Like a robber she lies in wait and multiplies the faithless among men.
Read in context