Jeremiah 3: Return, Ye Backsliding Children
A divorce law, two sisters, an invitation to return, and a future without the ark
"They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD" (3:1).
"The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done?… And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not… And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD" (vv. 6–10).
"Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding… At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it" (vv. 14–17).
"Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God… We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God" (vv. 22–25).
| Verses | What it says | What to notice |
|---|---|---|
| 3:1–5 | The divorce law: can a husband take back a wife who has married another? Yet return to me; you have a harlot's forehead | Deuteronomy 24:1–4. |
| 3:6–10 | Prose: in Josiah's days; Israel divorced; Judah, her sister, saw and did the same; returned only in pretense | The fall of Samaria (722 BC) as a warning Judah ignored. Compare Ezekiel 23. |
| 3:11–13 | Faithless Israel more righteous than treacherous Judah; proclaim toward the north: Return | A call to the exiles of the northern kingdom. |
| 3:14–18 | Return, children; one from a city, two from a clan, to Zion; shepherds after my heart; no more ark; Jerusalem the LORD's throne; Judah and Israel together | A prose vision of restoration. |
| 3:19–20 | I thought you would call me My Father; but as a wife betrays her husband | Father and husband images side by side. |
| 3:21–25 | Weeping on the heights; Return and I will heal; "Here we are, we come to you"; a liturgy of confession | Ends in the people's own confession. |
The divorce law and its limits
Deuteronomy 24:1–4 forbids a man to remarry a wife he divorced if she has married another; the land would be defiled. Jeremiah 3:1 quotes the principle and then has God reverse it: the people have had many lovers, "yet return again to me." The argument depends on the listeners knowing the law; it is one of the earliest datable allusions to Deuteronomy's legislation, though scholars debate the direction of influence.
"In the days of Josiah" (3:6)
One of the few passages explicitly dated to Josiah's reign. Its call to the northern exiles fits Josiah's expansion into the former kingdom of Israel (2 Kings 23:15–20). Some scholars treat 3:6–18 as later prose composed in the style of Deuteronomy; others as Jeremiah's own early preaching. See "How Jeremiah Came to Us" (planned) on the book's poetry and prose.
A future without the ark
3:16 imagines a time when "the ark of the covenant" is no longer spoken of, remembered or remade: Jerusalem itself will be God's throne. The ark's real fate is unknown. 2 Maccabees 2:4–8 (2nd–1st century BC) tells that Jeremiah hid the tent, ark and incense altar in a cave on Mount Nebo; the book of Jeremiah has no such story, and no evidence supports it.
What the evidence shows
- Jeremiah 3:1 alludes to the law of Deuteronomy 24:1–4.
- Jeremiah 3:6 dates the oracle to Josiah's reign.
- Jeremiah hid the ark. 2 Maccabees 2; not in Jeremiah.
More from this lesson
Why this matters to the rest of Scripture
- The law of remarriage.
- Love her again.
- Oholah and Oholibah, the two sisters.
- The legend of the hidden ark.