A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
Parallel Translations
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A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.
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A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
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Hark! upon the high hills is heard the suppliant weeping of the children of Israel; for that they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to Jeremiah 3:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Jeremiah 2:32 “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
- Jeremiah 3:2 “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.
- Jeremiah 31:9 They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.
- 2 Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, which brings no regret. But the sorrow of the world produces death.
- Isaiah 15:2 They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
- Isaiah 17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
- Numbers 22:32 Yahweh’s angel said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way is perverse before me.
- Job 33:27 He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me.
- Proverbs 10:9 He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.
- Proverbs 19:3 The foolishness of man subverts his way; his heart rages against Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 30:15-17 Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your iniquity, because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured. All your adversaries, everyone of them, will go into captivity. Those who plunder you will be plunder. I will make all who prey on you become prey. For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds,” says Yahweh; “because they have called you an outcast, saying, ‘It is Zion, whom no man seeks after.’ ”
- Jeremiah 31:18-20 “I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are Yahweh my God. Surely after that I was turned. I repented. After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.
- Jeremiah 50:4-5 “In those days, and in that time,” says Yahweh, “the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together; they will go on their way weeping, and will seek Yahweh their God. They will inquire concerning Zion with their faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, and join yourselves to Yahweh in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’
- Ezekiel 7:16 But those of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his iniquity.
- Ezekiel 23:35 “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you have forgotten me, and cast me behind your back, therefore you also bear your lewdness and your prostitution.’ ”
- Hosea 8:14 For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses.”
- Hosea 13:6 According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.
- Micah 3:9 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.
- Zechariah 12:10-14 I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; all the families who remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain What I have stated becomes now more evident, —…
What I have stated becomes now more evident, — that the case of the Israelites is here set before the Jews, that the perverse, whom God had spared, might know that the same punishment impended over them, except they returned in due time to him: for the Prophet declares, that the Israelites were weeping and in tears, because they had departed from their God, and violated their faith pledged to him. For what purpose did he do this? That the Jews, who indulged themselves in their own pleasures, might be awakened, and be convinced, that except they anticipated God’s judgments, the same tears and the same weeping were prepared for them. The Israelites, indeed, did not as yet thus weep and shew signs of true repentance; for the Prophet does not here commend their feeling or their piety, but intimates, that they were thus severely afflicted, because they had forsaken their God.
A voice, he says, was heard on high places, ‘that is, It was everywhere sufficiently known how cruelly the Israelites were oppressed by their enemies. Now they cried, then they called themselves the most wretched of men: why was this lamentation? Because they had perverted their ways It is, then, the same as though he had said, — that it was a monstrous perverseness in the Jews, that being warned by the punishment of their brethren, they did not repent: for the calamity which happened to the Israelites filled all men with terror. That kingdom had, indeed, flourished for a long time; but the land had been emptied of its inhabitants, and was occupied by wild beasts, until some were sent from Persia and other parts in the East to cultivate it. How could a land so pleasant and so fruitful have become like a desert? Even because God had so predicted:
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“Ye have neglected,” he says, “my Sabbaths, and your land shall rest, and it shall no more be wearied by you.” (Leviticus 26:34, 35.)
It was an awful sight; and nations, far and wide, were able to see how great must have been the impiety of that people, on whom God had taken such dreadful vengeance. Were not the Jews, who had this solitude before their eyes, and this devastation of the land, extremely stupid in overlooking all this?
We now see the design of the Prophet, when he says, A voice on high places was heard, as though the Israelites cried on the tops of mountains. And he adds, the weeping of the supplications, etc.: but he does not mean, that they were prayers which arose from faith; but simply that they were such lamentations as betokened misery and wretchedness. In giving a reason, the Prophet mentions not what the Israelites confessed, but only shews the cause why they so deeply deplored their calamities; it was, because they had perverted their ways, and forgotten Jehovah their God He afterwards adds —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Signifying, that God, whom they had forsaken, would bring…
Signifying, that God, whom they had forsaken, would bring their enemies unto them, who should lead them captive, and make them to cry and lament.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jer 3:21 A voice was heard upon the high…
Jer 3:21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping [and] supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, [and] they have forgotten the LORD their God.
Ver. 21. A voice was heard upon the high places.] Where they were wont to worship idols, now they weep for their sins, and pray for pardon.
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For they have perverted their ways.] This is it that now draweth from them prayers and tears. See Jer 31:18 Lam 5:14. Oi nalanu, chi chattanu. Woe worth us that ever we thus sinned. Some understand those words, "A voice is heard," as showing God’s readiness to hear penitent sinners as soon as they begin to turn to him, even before they speak, as the father of the prodigal met him, &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain A voice was heard: here the prophet seems to…
A voice was heard: here the prophet seems to express Israel’s repentance and turning to God; and that which they were at present engaging themselves in; (the word being participial, and in the present tense;) delivered in a prophetical style, as that in Jer 31:15; and that not only out of a sense of their judgments that they were under, but chiefly of their sins they were guilty of, and the pardon of which they were now begging. which is intimated by weeping and supplication.
Upon the high places, viz. that their cry might be the more public, both open and loud, Jer 22:20; Mat 10:27; possibly alluding to the usual practice of praying on the tops of houses in great calamities, Isa 15:3; 22:1; Jer 7:29.
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Weeping and supplications; or rather, weeping supplications; showing the intenseness of it; praying in weeping, and weeping in prayer, Zec 12:10, like Peter’s weeping, Mat 26:75.
Of the children of Israel; the end of which might be to provoke Judah also to repentance, or otherwise to charge upon them their stupidity, and threaten them with the like judgments, if they would not return upon Israel’s example.
They have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God: this expresseth rather the matter of their prayer than the cause of it, Lam 5:16, drawn chiefly from their sins, as also from their calamities.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain A voice was heard upon the high places,.... And…
A voice was heard upon the high places,.... And so might be heard afar off; it shows that the repentance and confession of the Jews, when convinced and converted, will be very public, and made upon those places where they have committed their sins; see Jer 2:20, for this and the following verses declare the humiliation, repentance, and conversion of the Jews, and the manner in which they shall be brought to it, and be openly put among the children:
weeping and supplications of the children of Israel; not so much lamenting their calamities, as mourning over their sins, supplicating the pardon of them, and freely and ingenuously confessing them:
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for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God; or, "because they have" (k), &c. this they shall be sensible of, that they have perverted the right ways of the Lord by their traditions, and have forgotten the worship of the Lord, as the Targum paraphrases it; yea, the Lord himself, their covenant God and kind benefactor, and lightly esteemed of the true Messiah, the Rock of their salvation. The consideration of which will cause them to weep and mourn; which they will do when the Spirit of grace and supplication is poured out upon them; and they shall look upon him whom they have pierced, Zac 12:10. Some interpret this as the cause of their calamities, and not as the subject matter of their mourning; but the latter seems best to agree with what follows, which shows by what means they were brought to repentance, and were converted.
(k) "quia perverterunt viam suam", Munster, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; "eo quod", Piscator; "quod pravam viam inierunt", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A voice - Here the prophet seems to express…
A voice - Here the prophet seems to express Israel's repentance. Forgotten - This expresses, rather the matter or their prayer, than the cause of it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. A voice was heard upon the high…
Verse 21. A voice was heard upon the high places] Here the Israelites are represented as assembled together to bewail their idolatry and to implore mercy. While thus engaged, they hear the gracious call of Jehovah -
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Upon the high places - Upon those bare table-lands,…
Upon the high places - Upon those bare table-lands, which previously had been the scene of Israel’s idolatries Jer 3:2. The prophet supposes the offer of mercy to Israel if repentant to have been accepted, and describes Israel’s agony of grief now that she is convinced of her sins.
Weeping and supplications - literally, “the weeping of earliest prayers for mercy.”
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For they have ... - Rather, because “they hare perverted their way,” literally, made it crooked. It gives the reason of their cry for mercy.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain God. Hence proceed these miseries and lamentations.
God. Hence proceed these miseries and lamentations.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain In harmony with the preceding promises of God, the…
In harmony with the preceding promises of God, the penitential confessions of Israel are heard.
high places--The scene of their idolatries is the scene of their confessions. Compare Jer 3:23, in which they cast aside their trust in these idolatrous high places. The publicity of their penitence is also implied (compare Jer 7:29; Jer 48:38).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. A voice was heard — And so there…
21. A voice was heard — And so there is lamentation. The very high places which have witnessed their shameless idolatry shall witness their penitential distress. This publicity of their sorrow answers to that of their sin.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. bare heights] For the choice of such places…
21. bare heights] For the choice of such places for lamentation cp. ch. Jer_7:29; Isa_15:2; Jdg_11:37.
21–25. Vividly drawn picture of Judah’s repentance. From the high places, the very scenes of her idolatrous excess, there comes a sound, at first of inarticulate weeping. In response to Jehovah’s gracious invitation, the emotion ventures to express itself in words of deep shame and contrition.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) A voice was heard.—Yes, the guilty wife was…
(21) A voice was heard.—Yes, the guilty wife was there, but she was also penitent. The “high places” which had been the scene of the guilt of the sons of Israel, where the cries of their orgiastic worship had been heard, now echoed with their weeping and supplication (or, more literally, the weeping of suppliant prayers), as they called to mind the hateful sins of the past.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Another of those rapid transitions so common in emotional…
Another of those rapid transitions so common in emotional writing like Jeremiah"s. The prophet cannot bear to dwell upon the backsliding of his people. He knows the elements of good which still survive, and by faith sees them developed, through the teaching of God"s good providence, into a fruitful repentance. How graphic is the description! On the very high places (or rather, bare, treeless heights or downs, as ver. 2) where a licentious idolatry used to be practiced, a sound is heard (render so, not was heard) the sound of the loud and audible weeping of an impulsive Eastern people. (comp. Jer_7:29) For they have; this evidently gives the reason of the bitter lamentation; render, because they have.
A sincere repentance in an appropriate place.
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How came this voice to be heard on the high places this weeping and this supplication? The answer seems to lie in ver. 20, where there is interposed a suggestion that Israel, because of its past defections, would fail to prove capable and worthy of that glorious future which has been just depicted. How then can Israel reply except by an abundant outflow of the signs of penitence? There is weeping; there is deprecation of any such withdrawal of Jehovah"s contemplated goodness; there is a most emphatic declaration that they had indeed been utterly perverse and had forgotten Jehovah. The submission to him, the acknowledgment of him, shall now be complete. The words put into the lips of the repentant people (vers. 22-25) are not extorted and grudging words, with a counter-resolution underneath to back out if any chance should offer. The eyes of the apostates have been opened; Israel has come to itself. What has been sought in vain on hills and mountains in the cruel service of heathen deities is to be got in full and abiding power from God. Observe now how
I THESE HIGH PLACES WERE MOST APPROPRIATE FOR THESE TEARFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND THESE ENTREATING APPROACHES TO GOD.
1. The thing done had been great public wrong. Where men have sinned is the place for them to confess their sin. Now, this was not a sin in some secret place; it was not a sin confined to the thoughts of the heart, and known only to God; it was not some private, domestic wrongdoing. The whole nation shared in the sin of the high places. Even if some were not actually idolatrous, yet by their silence and inaction they condoned the idolatry. All surrounding nations must be cognizant of it. Sins in public cannot be got rid of without an equally public repentance and suffering. Who can tell what audacious and mocking words the heathen around may have spoken concerning Jehovah? this Jehovah, whose temple and service are in Jerusalem, and who has no image, has really no power over the people! He has a name to live, but surely he is dead!" Elijah mocked the priests of Baal, and he had cause, for, unhappy men that they were, they had believed in a lie. But priests of Baal might also many times have mocked the people of Israel, for in one sense they had the truth, but they did not believe in it. Of course, in the end, such people were bound to make a very public acknowledgment of their folly and unbelief.
2. By this weeping, etc., on the high places, there was a particularly impressive condemnation of idolatry. He who forsakes a course of action necessarily condemns that action, and reproaches all who still continue in it, reproaches them none the less because reproach may not be at all intended. Such a return to Jehovah as is indicated in the concluding verses of this chapter is also, by the very act, a downright blow against idolatry. Let men who will persist in wrong courses know that they must be prepared for painful experiences when their companions, every now and then, desert them. There will always be some one discovering that the course is wrong, and going over to the other side. Take a very important instance of such exposure as we find it in the New Testament. Pharisaism and Jewish pride are there condemned from two great sources of judgment. One of these we find in Jesus, who spoke, we know how severely, against the Pharisees and their doings. From his words we feel how bad their spirit must have been and their inner life. But perhaps it is not too much to say that Saul"s condemnation of them is still more striking; shown not in words so much, but oh, how clearly in deed! when he came out from them, showing he was no more of them.
3. There is thus a Feat warning to all who are acting doubtfully in the blaze of public life. If such have occasion to turn, they must turn in public. Any one who stands well out before his fellows had need take care what he says and does, for he knows not what may be the force of circumstances, what revolutions there may be in his convictions. How much nations have had to suffer-perhaps will have to suffer to the end of time just because they are not careful of the beginnings of evil in their midst! Look at what it cost America to get rid of Negro slavery when once it had grown into a far-spreading and lucrative custom. Y.
Vers. 21-25. Typical penitence.
It is difficult if not impossible to fix any historic date for the fulfillment of this prophecy. Not a few competent scholars maintain that it is yet unfulfilled. But in any case it is a picture of the future, and may be accepted as a description of the penitence that is well-pleasing in the sight of God. All through it is spiritual, and the national circumstances involved are put thoroughly into the background.
I THE UPSPRINGING OF GODLY SORROW FOR SIN. (Ver. 21) It is not the expression of annoyance and pain at the consequences of sin. A deeper sentiment inspires the host of weeping supplicants. Sin itself is the grief. The cry is from men who feel they have lost their way, that there is no satisfaction in the foul and inconsequent rites of idolatry. The religion and the life that flows from it are felt to be profoundly and utterly false. Memories of past spiritual privileges and endearing ties overpower their hearts. They do not wait, but pour forth their sorrow on the very scene of transgression. Their sin is before them. God is the Being they have offended, and to him therefore do they cry, in heartfelt and unrestrainable sorrow.
II THE DIVINE RESPONSE. (Ver. 22) The fatherly heart of God cannot resist the "voice heard upon the high places." He waits not, but forthwith addressing them already as "children," encourages their approach. Their offence is declared, but equally is the promise given, "I will heal your backslidings apostasies." This expresses the objective and subjective influence of Divine forgiveness. It not only removes the sin so that forthwith and henceforth it is as if it had never been, but it destroys the causes and tendencies of the evil. The source is cleansed, the disposition changed, and the way cleared for thorough reconciliation with God.
III THE ACCEPTANCE OF THE DIVINE INVITATION. (Ver. 22) God is taken at his word. No delay takes place. As the way of return has been shown, so they hasten to avail themselves of it. His authority and relation to them are acknowledged. They obey him.
IV THE ACCEPTED SINNER"S CONFESSION. (Vers. 23, 24) The "vanity," waste, and ruin attendant upon idolatry are declared. God is recognized as the only Savior. Testimony like this has often proved more powerful in converting sinners than many sermons. It is due to God, and may be profitable to others.
V THE ACCOMPANYING EMOTIONS. (Ver. 25) Shame predominates. But it is not accompanied by despair. There is a false shame which prevents the sinner coming to God; there is a true shame which coexists with acceptance of proffered mercy, and earnest effort to retrieve the past, We ought not too readily to forget "the wormwood and the gall. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Return . . . and I will heal your…
Jer_3:21-25
Return . . . and I will heal your backslidings.
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Hope for the worst backsliders
I. The call from God. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.
1. It is a call to come back to God; and that means, first, remember Him; begin to think of Him; let Him be a living God to you.
2. The next thing is, really turn to Him.
3. There is one word in this call from God which proves that you are invited to come back just as you are, He says, Return, ye backsliding children; not Return, ye penitent children. I notice also that He does not say, Heal your wounds first, and then come back to Me; but He says, Return, ye backsliding children, with all your backslidings unhealed,--and I will heal your backslidings.
II. The method of obeying this call.
1. He who would return to God, and find salvation, must distinctly renounce all other trust except that which God Himself gives him and sets before him in the Gospel. First, there must be a distinct renunciation of all righteousness of your own. The next thing that you must renounce is, your own strength. With that must also go all trust in your own knowledge and abilities, and even in your own understanding.
2. There must also be a hearty, true-minded acceptance of God alone as our one hope. Notice how the text says, Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. There must be no playing at this acceptance of God as our one hope; there must be no mocking of God by a pretended yielding up of ourselves to Him. It must be a true acceptance of God, to be our God henceforth and forever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The essence of love
I. A kindly remembrance. God, speaking to backsliders, says, I remember thee.
II. A shocking calamity. Ye who once were as a lighthouse set upon a rock, to guide men, are now a delusion and a snare. Your light has gone out. What a corruption there would be if it were not for the salt of the ocean. When you were converted to God you were the salt in the ocean of humanity, but now the salt hath lost its power. You are useless, and humanity seethes in the pollution of sin. You live probably in a house where there are wicked ones; you work amongst swearers, and sceptics, and drunkards, but you are powerless. The salt has lost its savour. Oh, backslider, dismantled, ruined, empty, may God rebuild you!
III. A loving message. Return. Have you read of the widow whose daughter fell into the pathway of wrong! One night the poor girl returned to her mothers cottage. She went up the garden path and stood in the little porchway, and, to her surprise, she saw the door a little way open. She pushed it and entered. She went into the little room which used to be her own, and found a night light burning there, and her bed ready, as it always had been. She lay upon the bed, and was awoke by her mothers kiss. Mother, how is it that you left the door unlatched and the light burning? It was that you might not have a minute to wait when you came back. This is just the way in which our heavenly Father treats us. It is the essence of love!
IV. A gracious promise. Poor backslider, you are wretchedly miserable; for Gods message has sunk very deep into your heart. You have drunk from the cup of sin; but you have also been bitten by the poisonous serpent, and the worm of unhappiness is gnawing at your heart. God says, I will heal thy backslidings. He will not let wound keep running. He will heal it; not like the burns and scalds that have left terrible marks upon our flesh. When we return to God He heals the wound; and there shall be no mark left of it, for He says, I have blotted out thy transgressions. (W. Birch.)
Backsliding children
I. What it is to backslide. In Scripture the word backslide means a turning away from God altogether. It is usually, if not always, the sin of idolatry; it is the wife departing from her husband, as in this chapter (Jer_3:1-2; Jer_3:8; Pro_14:14). There may be in a spiritual sense a real though not apparent departing from God. There may be an unfaithfulness, not an act only, but a state. There may be half-heartedness for a time. The once tender conscience may become hardened; the once lowly spirit may become lifted up. With some it shows itself in worldly entanglements, seeking increase of business. In the midst of all this there may be no grossness, but specious arguments for exculpation. But there is woeful neglect of secret transactions with God. Prayer is not wholly omitted, but not conscientiously followed up. Perhaps there may be a lightness of spirit in prayer; perhaps there may be hardness. There may be an expressed value for the doctrines of grace; but they are as opiates to lull to sleep, not as stimulants to rouse to action. But, irrespective of all false notions with respect to the truth, there is oft much backsliding. The comforts of life have acted, it may be, as drags upon the wheels. Perhaps the very trials of life, instead of drawing us as magnets, have acted as repellants, and driven us away from God. Perhaps very weariness of body and exhaustion of mind have led to secret neglectings of God, and what was occasional at last became habitual. It is by the small edge of the wedge the whole wedge is at last inserted. When a river bursts through its embankment, one little spadeful of earth might have stopped the flood. He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little. But the point is this--there may be fearful backsliding in heart, and not a speck of grossness in the life; and satisfied am I, that if we do not feel this, we shall, if we are Gods children, be taught it, it may be with many stripes.
II. The tender expostulation. Return. Here were idolaters in the grossest sense, and yet were they called to return. Before any symptom of amendment, any humblings of soul, yet Return. So Hearken unto Me, not ye broken-hearted only that walk, or are beginning to walk, righteously, but ye stout-hearted that are far from righteousness. What an aspect of tenderness! and what losers are they that see not this! The first overture was from God. The outstretched hand to an idolater, to a rebel. Oh, how clearly does it show us that if there were no election, there would be no salvation. Nature will reject all providences, all mercies, all overtures, even the outstretched hand of God.
III. The answer. Behold, we come unto Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God. See the overcoming power of love. There was reproof of their departures, expostulation with them for their sin, there was displeasure for their iniquities, but there was the most winning display of love in them all, and it was this which overcame. Force may compel, fear may deter, reason may persuade, and the Holy Spirit may use them all, but the great principle that moves the human heart is love. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
An invitation to backsliders
The Jews were a people prone to idolatry. Though favoured with peculiar privileges, they were bent to backsliding. At the time when these words were addressed to them, Josiah sat on the throne. He was a pious king and strove to uproot idolatry. His efforts were seconded by Jeremiah; but both king and prophet failed. Many years before, the ten tribes of Israel, for their apostasy, had been carried into captivity. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord (verse 10). This state of things deeply affected the prophets mind, and caused him to give utterance to the most plaintive and pathetic language.
I. The characters addressed. Backsliding children.
1. These are undutiful children. They have proved unfaithful to their solemn vows and sacred obligations--to their Christian brethren--to their God and Father. He said, Surely they are My people, children that will not lie; but they turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. What crime can equal that of rebellion against parental authority? An unfaithful servant or steward is bad enough, but an unfaithful, undutiful child is vastly worse.
2. Ungrateful children. And theirs is ingratitude of the basest kind. It resembles the ingratitude of a freed slave who forgets his emancipator, and sells himself again into bondage.
3. Unwise children. Are they not unwise who forsake their own mercies and follow after lying vanities; who prefer broken cisterns to the fountain of living waters?
4. Unhappy children. They are often unhappy in their circumstances. Others may enjoy the world, but they cannot. Recollections of their lost Paradise, and apprehensions of future wrath, tend to embitter every earthly comfort.
5. Unsafe children. Heavens just wrath is awakened against them. Hells blackest gloom and fiercest flame await them.
6. But children still though they have forfeited the privileges of adoption, and have been deprived of the witness of the Spirit, their relation to God as their Creator is not dissolved, and their former interest in His favour is not forgotten.
II. The invitation given. Return.
1. By sincere repentance.
2. Earnest prayer.
3. Evangelical faith--faith in Christ.
4. Renewed self-dedication.
III. The promise made. I will heal your backslidings. The Lord heals backslidings in many ways,--frequently by restoring.
1. Providential blessings. Many men are chastised here that they may not be punished hereafter. The Israelites never departed from God without feeling the effects of His displeasure in their temporal circumstances.
2. Peace of conscience.
3. Purity of heart. How polluted is the heart of a backslider! His last state is worse than his first.
4. Honour and usefulness. (J. Hodgson.)
Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God.
True repentance
I. It proceeds from the inmost heart.
1. Weeping (verse 21).
2. Shame (verse 25).
II. It is free from all dissimulation. Its principle is sorrow at having grieved God by the abuse of His love (verse 21).
III. It is made known by the honest fruits of repentance.
1. Apostasies healed (verse 22).
2. Detestation of evil (verse 24).
3. Yearning for the Lord (verse 25). (Origen.)
Conversion to God
I. What is it for sinners to come to God?
1. A relinquishing of everything that is contrary to God, and keeps us at a distance from Him.
2. A making use of Christ as the way to God.
(1) There would have been no place for repentance if Christ had not interposed with His blood.
(2) There never would have been any principle or exercise of repentance if Christ did not produce it by His Spirit.
3. A giving up of ourselves to God, and resting in Him as our end.
II. How should sinners come to God, in obedience to the precept, and upon the encouragement of the promise?
1. How must they come in obedience to the precept?
(1) Sinners are to come to God humbly; and that in consideration of the command of God, upon two accounts. All acts of obedience to God are to be performed with humbleness of mind. Returning to God after former acts of disobedience requires special humiliation.
(2) We are to come to God readily. When God is so kind to admit your return, there is no reason that He should wait for it.
2. How must they come upon the encouragement of the promise?
(1) Sinners are to come to God believingly, with regard to the promise: for these two reasons,--
(a) If faith be not the spring of all our motions towards God, they cannot be acceptable to Him.
(b) The promise does encourage such a faith, as much as we need or can desire. Besides His gracious entreaties, affectionate offers, importunate pleadings, you have His positive assurances that He will receive you if you return (2Co_6:17).
(2) Sinners must come joyfully to God. The promise is ground of rejoicing, as well as of hope and trust; and God never designed that our sorrow for sin should be so extreme as to stifle or drown the joy of conversion. God who makes the promise rejoices in the performance (Zep_3:17; Luk_15:15). We who have the benefit of the promise must needs be still doubtful of it if we do not rejoice in it. If we had faith suitable to the faithfulness of God, it would transport the soul into an ecstasy, that we who have lifted up our heels so oft against God should be taken into His arms.
III. Wherein lies the blessedness of this?
1. When a sinner comes back to God he is brought out of a most miserable, wilderness condition, wherein if he had remained he must have perished.
2. When a sinner comes to God salvation comes to him.
3. When a sinner comes home to God, all his fellow creatures shall be some way or other serviceable to him, either willingly and gladly, or by constraint and over-ruling necessity.
4. When a sinner is come to God he must visit God by prayer in all his necessities, and be sure of sufficient relief.
5. A sinner that is come to God may sweetly walk and converse with God, through the residue of his life; and the benefit and sweetness of such communion is not to be imagined by those that have it not; they that are far from God can be no judges of the blessedness of those that are near unto Him.
6. A sinner that is come to God may go to Him with comfort and confidence at death, whether sooner or later.
IV. Use.
1. This shows that they who will not come to God are not come to themselves (Luk_15:17).
2. Ministers will have a dreadful and unpleasing account to give of those whom they leave unpersuaded.
3. God will be justified in their condemnation, to whom His precepts and promises avail nothing.
4. The devil can lay no blocks in our way against our coming unto God but what we may easily remove or courageously leap over, if we look no further than this text.
5. How unreasonable would it be if any of the storms we meet with in our way to God should ever drive us back, or shipwreck our faith!
6. How happy would it be if the efficacy of this doctrine were equal to the concernment of it! It extends to all that are born into the world, and therefore should operate upon all. (T. Cruso.)
The call of God obeyed
I. The state of the persons here addressed. Backsliding children.
1. They had forgotten the Lord their God. All sin may be traced to this. God is forgotten by us. We forget the majesty and purity of His nature; His nearness to us; that His eye is ever upon us; and that darkness and light are both alike to Him. We forget His unspeakable love and goodness, and our manifold, increasing obligations. Strange that, amidst innumerable tokens of remembrance, we should be careless and thoughtless!
2. They had perverted their way. This is the natural effect of forgetting God. Have not we perverted our way? In innumerable instances we have struggled against the voice of reason, the voice of conscience, the voice of God; and, against the plainest dictates of His Word, have wandered in foolish, forbidden paths.
3. They were filled with painful regret. The high places were the seat of Israels idolatry: there they committed abomination, and provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger. But where they sinned, there they gave vent to their sorrow; and there they supplicated Divine forgiveness and favour. And, truly, if we are the subjects of genuine repentance, we shall do the same: where we have sinned, we shall sorrow too.
II. The gracious language of God to these backsliding children.
1. A friendly call. Return. Doubtless authority marks this word, and the word of Jehovah is never to be trifled with. It is an invitation given; but it is also a command, which may not be slighted; a solemn charge, which cannot with impunity be refused.
2. A precious promise. I will heal, etc.
(1) Backsliding inflicts a disease, a dangerous and fatal disease. But the promise before us implies that God is ready to restore health and cure.
(2) The effects of sin are numerous and destructive. Sin not only dishonours God, and wounds the soul, but it creates a thick cloud of mental darkness: it is the fruitful source of trouble and disquietude. But when the Lord promises to heal backslidings, He engages to extract this bitterness, to avert this punishment.
(3) The promise here is not indiscriminately given; it is to the sinner that returns to God. Return, and I will heal your backslidings. He does this by an act of sovereign favour (Mic_7:18-19).
III. The obedient reply of these people.
1. This reply is practical: We tome unto Thee. As the prodigal: he did not spend his time in fruitless wishes or satisfy himself with good intentions and right resolutions: his language was, I will arise, and go to my father. Immediately, he arose, and came to his father.
2. The reply is prompt; made with the utmost readiness, and given without the least demur. The call is, Return; the answer instantly subjoined is, Behold, we come. It reminds us of the promptness of the Psalmist, in his compliance with the voice of heaven (Psa_27:8).
3. The reply is deliberate. The note of attention intimates this. Behold! we come. Though the penitent believer is ready, he is not rash; though, under the influence of Divine grace, he soon determines, he does it advisedly; his repentance is of that kind which never needs to be repented of.
4. The reply is unanimous. Here is the prayer and resolution of the Church: she prays as one person, actuated by one spirit draw me: she resolves as many persons, answering, with cheerful concurrence, we will run after Thee.
5. The reply springs from a clear conviction of duty, interest, and obligation. Thou art the Lord our God. It is the language of faith, and hope, and love; especially of gratitude, and self-dedication. (T. Kidd.)
Return to God
1. In the first place, we see what a true recovery from this state really is, Behold, we come unto Thee. This is true repentance. It is coming back to God, a returning home. There may be a turning to doctrinal comfort, and no returning to God. Till this, the backsliding continues. Behold, we come to Thee, say all returning backsliders; we come and lay our sins, our idols, ourselves, at Thy feet. And nothing short of this is real repentance, anything short of this is, under fair pretexts, soul deceptions.
2. But what else does it imply? Returning by the right way--faith. There is no real return to God but in the way we first met Him--in Jesus: No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. All the tears, all the sorrow and resolutions of amendment, have no power to bring us back to God. But when faith lays hold upon Jesus and His great atonement, it brings me up at once to God. I hang back no more. I hide myself no more. I make no vain excuses now. I hate my sins. I lie low. It is a valley, and it suits the lowly lily well.
3. And who is the author of all this? The same blessed Spirit who first revealed Jesus, and God the Father in Him. And nothing short of this. When sin in any measure regains power, deadening process instantly begins. The soul is commanded to confess; but in proportion to the length of time of the departure, and the degree of power of it, there seems an inability to confess. There is a want of spiritual sensibility. Oh then, how should we beware of the first appearance of evil! Beware, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
4. Consider the great motive by which it is led back, the motive by which He works. It is the overcoming power of love. There was displeasure. Wounds were inflicted, wounds pungent and trying--wounds full of anguish were they, such as no human balm could assuage; but it was but the varied countenance of love. These wounds did but speak two things--His unsullied holiness, and equally His untiring love.
The subject has a two-fold bearing. First, as it regards our treatment of others, then that of our own souls.
1. First, others. We are all, as saints, more or less called amid our familiar friends and associates, to deal with those in whom we hope there is a spark of grace, yet little true, spiritual, holy light.
2. And now a few words to the believer in reference to himself. It may be that some one may be conscious--This is my own state. I have been not merely today, nor yesterday, but for many yesterdays, departing from God. Alas! that this should be so common. But, however, trifle not with it. It is not to be trifled with. Seek instant healing. Tarry not. Every instant of delay only increases the disease. Nothing but the blood of the Lamb can heal. Take heard that it be applied by none but the Holy Spirit. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
God forgotten
Lady Glenorchy, in her diary, relates her being seized with a fever, which threatened her life, during the course of which, she says, the first question of the Assemblys Catechism was brought to my mind--What is the chief end of man?--as if some one had asked it. When I considered the answer to it,--To glorify, God and to enjoy Him forever,--I was struck with shame and confusion. I found I had never sought to glorify God in my life, nor had I any idea of what was meant by enjoying Him forever. Death and judgment were set before me; my past sins came to my remembrance; I saw no way to escape the punishment due unto them, nor had I the least glimmering hope of obtaining pardon through the righteousness of another. From this unhappy state she was shortly after delivered, by faith in the Lord Jesus. (W. Whitecross.)
The call to repentance and its response
You may pound a lump of ice with a pestle into a thousand fragments, but it will still continue ice. But bring it beside your own bright and blazing fire, and soon in that genial glow, the living waters flow. A man may try to make himself contrite. He may search out his sins and dwell on all their enormity and still feel no repentance. But come to Jesus with His words of grace and truth. Let that flinty, stony spirit bask in the beams of the Sun of Righteousness, then will it melt. (James Hamilton.)
Responding to the call
It is as when a man is in court, and is called for, to go into the witness box. He is standing in the crowd, and his name is celled: what happens? As soon as he hears his name he begins to push through the throng to reach his place. What are you at? says one. I am called, says he. Stand back; why do you push so! says another. I am called by the judge, says he. A big policeman demands, Why are you making such confusion in court? But, says the man, I am called. My name was called out, and I must go. If he cannot come, if it is not possible for him to get through the throng, one of the authorities calls out, Make way for that man--he is summoned by the court. Officers, clear a passage and let him come. Such is the kind of response which God looks for as He calls sinners to repentance. Behold, we come unto Thee; for Thou art the Lord our God.
The far-reaching consequences of sin
For many years the trees of the forest had been lopped, and now, though the new ownership and laws forbade that any hatchet should be lifted up upon any tree, they could not outgrow the olden days. The drunkard is such a pollarded tree, he may stop drinking, but his body will long suffer. The same applies to all unchastity. Sometimes the mind rather than the body suffers, and memories of sin deform the intellectual powers, even after the sin is discontinued. False teaching is another form of lopping, affecting the soul. What branches of Bible truth some are giving up, with the result of hindered and deformed growth--growth never recovered. Thus in the natural, physical, mental, and spiritual realm lopping is a serious business.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain Jer 3:21 - Jer 3:22.
Jeremiah
A COLLOQUY BETWEEN A PENITENT AND GOD
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Jer 3:21 - Jer 3:22.
We have here a brief dramatic dialogue. First is heard a voice from the bare heights, the sobs and cries of penitence, produced by the prophet’s earnest remonstrance. The penitent soul is absorbed in the thought of its own evil. Its sin stands clear before it. Israel sees its sin in its two forms. ‘They have perverted their way,’ or have led a wrong outward life of action, and the reason is that ‘they have forgotten God,’ or have been guilty of inward alienation and departure from Him. Here is the consciousness of sin in its essential character, and that produces godly sorrow. The distinction between mere remorse and repentance is here already, in the ‘weeping and supplication.’
I. So we have here a consciousness of sin in its true nature, as embracing both deeds and heart, as originating in departure from God, and manifested in perverted conduct.
Further, we have here sorrow. There may be consciousness of sin in its true nature without any sorrow of heart. It is fatal when a man looks upon his evil, gets a more or less clear sight of it, and is not sorry and penitent. It is conceivable that there should be perfect knowledge of sin and perfect insensibility in regard to it.
A sinful man’s true mood should be sorrow-not flinging the blame on others, or on fate, or circumstances; not regarding his sin as misfortune or as inevitable or as disease.
Conscience is meant to produce that consciousness and that sorrow: but conscience may be dulled or silenced. It cannot be anyhow induced to call evil good, but it may be mistaken in what is evil. The gnomon is true, but a veil of cloud may be drawn over the sky.
Further, we have here supplication. These two former may both be experienced, without this third. There may be consciousness of sin and sorrow which lead to no blessing. ‘My bones waxed old through my roaring.’ Sorrow after a godly sort may be hindered by false notions of God’s great love, or by false notions of what a man ought to do when he finds he has gone wrong. It may be hindered by cleaving, subtle love of sin, or by self-trust. But where all these have been overcome there is true repentance.
II. The loving divine answer.
Another ear than the prophet’s has heard the plaint from the bare heights. Many a frenzied shriek had gone up from these shrines of idolatrous worship, and as with Baal’s prophets, it had brought no answer, nor had there been any that regarded. But this weeping reaches the ear that is never closed. Contrast with Jer 3:23: ‘Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the shouting {of idol-worshippers} on the mountains.’
The instantaneousness of God’s answer is very beautiful. It is like the action of the father in the parable of the prodigal son, who saw his repentant boy afar off and ran and kissed him.
There seems to be, in both the invitation to return and in the promise to hear the backslidings, a quotation from Hos 14:1 - Hos 14:4. We see here how God meets the penitent with a love that recognises all his sin and yet is love. It is not rebuke or reproach that lies in that designation, ‘backsliding children.’ It is tenderest mercy that lets us see that He knows exactly what we are, and yet promises His love and forgiveness. He loves us sinners with a love that beckons us back to Himself, with a love that promises healing. The truth which should be taken into the mind and heart of the man conscious of sin is God’s knowledge of it all already and yet His undiminished love, God’s welcome of him back, God’s ready pardon. All this is true for the world in Christ, and is true for every individual soul.
The answer and the invitation here are immediate.
There is often a long period of painful struggle. It looks as if the answer were not immediate. But that is because we do not listen to it.
III. The happy response of the returning soul.
That too is immediate. The soul believes God’s promises. It recognises God’s claim. It returns to Him. We are attracted by His grace. The sunflower turns to the sun. The penitent is not driven only, but drawn -God’s own loving self-revelation in Christ is His true power. ‘I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men unto Me.’
The consciousness of sin remains and is even deepened {subsequent verses}, and yet is different. A light of hope is in it. The very sense of sin brings us to Him, to hide our faces on His heart like a child in its mother’s lap.
This response of the soul may be instantaneous. If it is not immediate, it too probably will never be at all.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 A voice is heard
A voice is heard
This can be stated in active form. AT: "People hear a noise" (See: Active or Passive)
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the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel
"the people of Israel crying and begging loudly"
they have forgotten Yahweh their God
Here "have forgotten" represents neglecting or ignoring. AT: "They have ignored Yahweh their God" (See: Metaphor)
I will heal you of treachery!
Possible meanings are 1) "heal you of treachery" represents causing Israel to stop being unfaithful to God. AT: "I will cause you to stop being unfaithful to me" or 2) "heal you of treachery" represents forgiving Israel for being unfaithful. AT: "I will forgive your treachery" (See: Metaphor)
heal you of treachery
"heal you so you will stop being unfaithful to me"
Behold! We will come to you
It is understood that this is what the people of Israel will say. AT: "The people will reply, 'Behold! We will come to you" or "You will say "Behold! We will come to you" (See: Ellipsis)
Behold
"Pay attention, because what I am about to say is both true and important"
translationWords
plea
cure
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:21–4:2 The people, held captive in Assyria, cried out…
3:21–4:2 The people, held captive in Assyria, cried out that they had repented of their sins. However, their words were insincere, and the Lord rejected their plea. God was telling his people that if they were really going to turn back to him, they had to abandon the altars on the hills where they had worshiped idols and purge their religion of every trace of idolatry.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.