6-11. The date was “in the days of Josiah,” who set on foot a blessed work of reformation, in which he was hearty, but the people were not sincere in their compliance with it; to reprove them for that, and warn them of the consequences of their hypocrisy, is the scope of that which God here said to the prophet, and which He “delivered to them.” The case of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah is here compared—the “ten tribes” that revolted from the throne of David and the Temple of Jerusalem, and the “two tribes” that adhered to both. The distinct history of those two kingdoms we have in the two books of the Kings, and here we have an abstract of both, as far as relates to this matter. H.

The passage (verses 6-11) brings the case of Israel, the ten tribes, to the notice of Judah, that the latter may observe the sins of her sister and her consequent punishment, and learn hence her own greater sin and sorer doom. For in Judah God had made Himself far more fully known. Repeatedly had pious kings and faithful prophets called the people back to God, and repeatedly had they professed repentance and solemnly renewed their covenant with the Lord. But as often they had turned back again to their loved idols, worse than ever, so that treachery had signally marked their national character. This was their damning sin. They would not keep faith with their God. It is for the sake of making this strong feature of their guilt specially prominent, that this comparative view of the two nations is taken here. H. C.

7. Her treacherous sister Judah saw it.** The two kingdoms of Israel and Judah are described as sisters in iniquity. The same metaphor is applied to Samaria and Jerusalem, the two capitals (Ezek. 23:4, etc.). The word “treacherous” properly denotes a wife unfaithful to her husband. (See verse 20.) W. Lowth.

11. Israel and Judah are both shamefully wicked; and yet, of the two, Judah is worse than Israel: her treachery is so much more, as she had more favors from Me. Bp. H.—She sinned against greater convictions, and would not take warning by that desolation which God brought on the whole kingdom of Israel for their idolatries. (Cf. Ezek. 16:51.) W. Lowth.

12-19. Here is a great deal of Gospel in these verses, both that which was always Gospel—God’s readiness to pardon sin and to rereceive and entertain returning repenting sinners—and those blessings which were in a special manner reserved for Gospel times, the forming and founding of the Gospel Church by bringing into it the “children of God” that were scattered around, the superseding of the ceremonial law and the uniting of Jews and Gentiles, typified by the uniting of Israel and Judah in their return out of captivity. H.

12-14. The address here is properly to Israel of the ten tribes, “backsliding” having been her distinctive epithet throughout this entire passage. (See verses 6, 8, 11, 12.) At the same time the spirit of the promise makes it equally good for the people of Judah, the Jews. Verse 18 declares that Judah shall come with Israel to the enjoyment of these great Gospel blessings. Israel is put foremost (as in this antithesis throughout) because her guilt had really been relatively less than that of Judah, and the Lord would fain move Judah to jealousy by the force of this contrast in both guilt and promised blessings. “I am married to you” means I cheerfully recognize my relation of husband to you; and, in the true spirit of this relation, I come now to solicit your returning love and the reconsecration of your heart to Me.

15. “Pastors according to Mine heart.” Tracing this phrase historically to the circumstances out of which it grew, we come to the pious kings who led the people, not to idols, but to the true God. In its prophetic outlook into Gospel times, it must have its fulfilment mainly in Christian teachers of Gospel truth. David was the model shepherd of the Lord’s flock—“after Mine own heart.” (See 1 Sam. 13:14.) All faithful and true pastors are from the Lord. H. C.—Those are pastors after God’s own heart who make it their business to feed the flock, not to “feed themselves and fleece the flocks,” but to do all they can for the good of those that are under their charge; who “feed them with wisdom and understanding,” wisely and understandingly. Those who are not only pastors, but teachers, must feed them with the Word of God, which is wisdom and understanding, which is able to make us wise to salvation. H.

We believe in the Divine commission, “As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” We believe in the Divine assurance, “Lo, I am with you all the days to the end of the world.” We believe in the Divine victory, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.” And our faith is turned into supplication. Let us forget all but that charge, that presence, that redemption. There must be in the outward life checks, lonelinesses, defects. We cannot always keep at the level of our loftiest thoughts. Yet the words shall have fulfilment, “from strength to strength.” “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who putteth his trust in Thee!” Westcott’s Ordination Sermon to Bp. Lightfoot.

Let us look into the New Testament and distinguish, if we can, what is called preaching there. And we find our apostle testifying, “Whom we preach, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” He does not say about whom, or the just account and formula of whom, but whom; the fact-form man, the life, and life history, and feeling, and sorrow, and death, and resurrection of the man. “Whom we preach”—that is, cry, proclaim, publish as good tidings, set forth as a fact-matter news or story—the word is not theologize, resolve, reduce, but preach. The souls to be gained are also to be presented “perfect in Christ Jesus”—that is, in the new possibilities and powers of grace embodied for them in the face and person, or personal life, of their incarnate Redeemer. Bushnell.

Once the descriptive term for God’s ministers was, “They wait at the altar;” now the descriptive term for God’s ministers is, “They preach the Gospel.” This is a contrast in which there is untold significance. Then, the Lord’s priests sacrificed for His people; now His people are themselves a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifice acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and His ministers are helpers of their faith, exhorting and testifying of Christ, and of the true grace of God wherein we stand. Then, the words priest, altar and sacrifice had a primary and real significance; now, when used, they can only have a secondary meaning, sufficient, indeed, to show the reality of the blessings which they indicate, but in no way either interfering with or supplementing the office and work of Him who is our true Priest, Altar and Sacrifice. Then, they who ministered in holy things had to show the necessity of a work to be done; the work of reconciliation was committed to God’s priests, that they might set it forth by types and symbols; but now, they who minister in holy things have to testify to the work of Christ already done; and, consequently, the apostle tells us, that to us, Christ’s ambassadors, is committed the word of reconciliation. The work is in Christ’s hands alone. It could be trusted in no other hands but His. It is honor enough for His ministers to be trusted with the word, the testimony concerning our Master and His finished work. Cadman.

The effective preacher is a man of extensive knowledge, not a novice. He has clear and comprehensive views of truth. His mind is filled with its illuminations. He is a man of deep experience; his heart is pervaded with the spirit and power of truth. He is a man of benevolence; his soul is filled with intense desires to achieve, by his instrumentalities, those grand purposes of love for which the truth was given. He is a man of logic and of feeling; he can prove his points, and press them. He is a man of simplicity, who aims to be understood; a man of intention, who aims to be felt. He clothes his message in garments of light, imbues it with the energies of emotion, adjusts it to the sensibilities of the heart; points and pours it into the drowsy chambers of the conscience. He is a man of taste; he can soar if he pleases; write and speak with a winning beauty and a chastened elegance. He is a man of boldness, and is not afraid, in distinctness and strength, to utter the whole truth—all doctrine, all duty, whoever may hear or whoever may forbear. He is a man of independence, his rules are his own, gathered from all proper sources and incorporated with his habits of thought and feeling. He speaks in his own way, from the impulse of his own spirit, and in accordance with his own consciousness and good sense. He speaks not so much for beauty as for effect. The highest exertions of power are sometimes inconsistent with an exact and perfect finish. The sublime and resistless agents of nature are not accustomed to do things very precisely. The lightning does not stop to polish its shafts in its rending, scorching track. George Shepard.

No doubt the preacher should be as susceptible as any man to the interest which poetical and historical associations give to the Scriptures; but then these should have for him “no glory at all by reason of the glory that excelleth.” When his mind is smitten with the revelation of those thoughts and ways of God which are as much higher than man’s thoughts and ways as the heavens are above the earth, then, as an instrument of the Spirit of grace, he is invested with his proper power. He will perceive, as by a sacred instinct, how an utterance on any given page is related to the truths which shine from all the pages. He will know that if he seizes that relation, he has the mind of God in the specific utterance. When he is borne along in the direction of that, he may frequently have to declare things which fail to be popular and for the moment pleasing; but he will not fall into the condemnation of having wasted the Sabbath hours, of having used the noble instrument of public discourse, with which he might have wielded over audiences the power of eternal truth, merely to freshen and set in some more striking combinations the fading things of time. W. S. Karr.

We are commissioned to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not simply in the gushing, superficial fervor of repeating His name and picturing His cross. Paul was determined to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified; but Paul’s name is linked with fourteen doctrinal epistles, setting forth the logical principles of an intellectual Christianity. The cross of Calvary is the focus, but the rays of truth are radiated on every side. Our work is declarative. The range of need is broad; the range of truth is broad, and while Christ is the centre and Calvary is the core, yet we are to gather everywhere from the rich fields of truth that God has opened up, producing things new and old, and bring them to bear upon the hearts and lives of men, enriching their thoughts, ennobling their conditions, exalting their ideals and bringing them into harmony with the everlasting Father. H. C. Minton.

Everything costs which has any real worth; costs in proportion to its worth, and costs all it is worth. In scholarship only an alert and athletic discipline tells. Every faculty must be roused, informed and driven to do its best. How one man surpasses another is not always easily explained. Brains of course differ, both in volume and especially in fibre. Temperaments differ. Opportunities differ. But the final strategic secret is in the will. The best scholarship, other things being equal, waits always upon the most inflamed and steady purpose. In ancient Christian art Matthew was the man, Mark the lion, Luke the ox, and John the eagle. The symbolism is most suggestive. Christian scholarship must emulate them all. Insight, courage, endurance, aspiration—these are the four evangelists of a successful ministry. Omniscience has a joy of its own. But for the finite mind there can be no greater benediction than that of the endless search. R. D. Hitchcock.

The true preacher will not offer to God of that which costs him nothing, but takes pains beforehand with his sermons. Having brought his sermon into his head, he labors to bring it into his heart before he preaches it to his people; and surely that preaching which comes from the soul most works on the soul. The places of Scripture he quotes are pregnant and pertinent. The similes and illustrations are always familiar, but never contemptible. In his opinion reasons are the pillars of the fabric of a sermon, but similitudes are the windows which give the best light. He provideth not only wholesome but plentiful food for his hearers. He makes not that wearisome which should be ever welcome; wherefore his sermons are of ordinary length, except on an extraordinary occasion. He counts the success of his ministry the greatest preferment. Fuller.

The single eye, the pure intention, the consideration of God’s will, the love of His commandments, zeal for His glory, ardor in His service, affection toward His creatures, these are the grand and essential motives which God looks for in His ministers. Bp. Jebb.—An illustration and example of the spirit indicated, Dr. Thomas H. Skinner, of New York, near the end wrote thus to one of his own generation: “You and I are very near the end of our course. Could any angel have coveted a greater calling than that in which we have spent our days? Preaching to poor, perishing men the unsearchable riches of Christ! Blessed be God that this—not heaping up treasure on earth, not making ourselves a name among scholars, and the worldly wise, and great politicians, and place seekers—has been our occupation. I am constantly lamenting over my shortcomings, my little profiting by all my advantages and opportunities of serving my Lord, and my countless infirmities and sins; but notwithstanding all my drawbacks, I cannot but call on my soul and all that is within me to bless the Lord that I have been, here on earth, not a banker, or lawyer, or statesman, or prince; but a preacher of the everlasting Gospel. And I am sure that in this you are like me; and how should we rejoice together in the wonderful grace of God toward us, in this respect, if we could talk with each other of the ministry we have almost completed! Farewell! In the bonds of the everlasting covenant.” Thomas H. Skinner.

16. The scope of the verse is that the ark, and much more surely all else with it belonging to the external forms and ceremonies of Judaism, will pass away, being superseded by what is altogether better and more glorious. H. C.—The ark of the covenant was the visible seat of God’s residence among His people; it was therefore the object of their boast; but after the destruction of the first Temple, they had it no more. But to compensate this loss, they are told in the next verse that “Jerusalem should be called the throne of the Lord,” to which not the Jews only, but “all the nations should be gathered.” By Jerusalem is meant the Christian Church. (See Gal. 4 : 26 ; Rev. 21 : 2, 3.) The greater privileges of this latter would supersede all boast on account of those which had at any time belonged to the Jewish Church.

Blayney.—Neither shall it come to mind ; neither shall they remember it. Meaning, The Jews shall then be convinced that the ark and other parts of the Mosaical dispensation are abrogated by Christ and His Gospel, which they will then embrace. Wells.

18. The form of this language has led many to expect a literal restoration (yet future) of both Judah and Israel (the ten tribes) to their ancient land. Let it suffice to remark here, that while the ancient economy stood, demanding the concentration of the people within and around Jerusalem, and withstanding their diffusion among the nations of the earth, such a return would be a blessing ; that the Jews did in this manner return under Zerubbabel and with Ezra and Nehemiah ; that the use of such phraseology is accounted for by existing facts and the whole genius of that system ; but that when we pass over into the Christian age, all the great facts of the case are changed. Israel and Judah cannot return thither to set up Judaism again, as this very passage shows, and as the New Testament most abundantly proves ; that the genius of the Christian system demands diffusion and resists concentration—thus precisely reversing the genius, the aim and the work of the ancient dispensation ; and, finally, that Paul (Rom. 11), looking forward to the future of his countrymen under the triumphant sway of the Gospel in the latter days, has not a hint about their returning to their own land, but finds all these promises fulfilled in their being engrafted into God’s Church again, and brought meekly and humbly to love and serve the living Saviour. Hence, for these main reasons, I cannot interpret this promise as involving the yet future restoration of Israel and Judah to their own land, but find in it the far higher and richer blessing that Paul found in it—their reception again into the bosom of the Christian Church, with a power upon Zion as that of life from the dead, that “so all Israel may be saved,” since “there shall come out of Zion a Deliverer, who shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11 : 15, 25, 26).

19. After such exceeding great and precious promises, nothing could be more appropriate than to show how the people could avail themselves of these blessings ; what they must be and must do to ensure them. Hence the remaining verses of this chapter bear directly to this point. Israel and Judah were united in verse 18, and thenceforward through the chapter are one, under the common name Israel (verses 20, 21, 23), and are spoken of as both “treacherous” (verse 20) and “backsliding” (verse 22). The Lord raises the question : “How shall I put thee among the children?” This question the Lord Himself answers : “Thou shalt call Me, My Father, and shalt not turn away from Me.” Truly this is the way : To return to God with humble faith in His parental love and with the filial spirit of a confiding child, and then to prove faithful evermore. These are the conditions of obtaining so great blessings. H. C.

He does Himself return answer to this question : “But I said, Thou shalt call Me, My Father.” God does Himself answer all the objections that are taken from our unworthiness, or they would never be got over. 1. That He may put returning penitents “among the children,” He will give them the “Spirit of adoption,” teaching them “to cry, Abba, Father” (Gal. 4 : 6). “Thou shalt call Me, My Father ; thou shalt return to Me, and resign thyself to Me as a Father, and that shall recommend thee to My favor.” 2. That He may “give them the pleasant land,” He will “put His fear in their hearts,” that they may never “turn from Him,” but may persevere to the end. H.

The conditions of adoption into the Christian Church, and of enjoying the privileges of the Gospel covenant, are expressly stated by Christ and His apostles to be the same as are here prescribed—viz., the profession of a true faith in God and uniform obedience for the time to come. “Thou shalt call Me, My Father ; and shalt not turn away from Me.” Blayney.

It is not mere condescension to the infirmity of man when God employs human language or human forms of speech to make His character known to us. There is just ground for it, in the nature of the case. It is not mere metaphor. It is in part literal and substantial truth. When He terms Himself our Father in heaven, it is not a mere figurative appellation. He is so in the strictest and fullest sense of the word. This word conveys an impressive and most consoling idea of what is truly the fact. Instead of its being an indication of the weakness of human speech, it is doubtful whether the dialect of angels could supply a better. B. B. Edwards.—In calling Himself our Father, God recalls to our mind the benefits of our creation, our preservation and redemption ; the blessing of adoption and of that sanctification which He has given to His children. Denton.

Adoption is the act of God, and not of faith ; it is God that says, “How shall I put them among the children?” and again, “I will be their Father, and they shall be My sons and daughters.” It is the work and business of faith to receive the blessing of adoption, which it could not do unless it had been previously provided in the mind and by the will of God, and in the covenant of His grace; for the reception of which Christ has made way by His redemption, one end of which is “that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:5) —that is, by faith; for God has appointed faith to be the general receiver of Christ, and of all the blessings of Grace through Him, and this among the rest; and to as many as receive Christ, He gives a power, authority, dignity and privilege to become the sons of God openly —that is, to claim this as their privilege and dignity; which claim is made by faith, but not the thing itself claimed; even to them that believe on His name, and who are described as regenerate persons, which is an evidence of their sonship, though not the thing itself; “who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 13). John Gill.

Adoption is evidenced by the renunciation of all former dependencies. When a child is adopted he relinquishes the object of his past confidence and submits himself to the will and pleasure of the adopter; so they who are brought into the family of God will evidence it by giving up every other object, so far as it interferes with the will and glory of their heavenly Father. “Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?” (Hos. 14:8.) “Other lords have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name” (Isa. 26:13). Anon.

Readoption is the guarantee of all highest blessings. It is only children of God who are heirs of God; if, then, we would enjoy the privileges and blessings of His house, we must be reinstated in that which we have lost. But this is only possible on repentance and belief. We are assured here and elsewhere that the sinner can regain this title and relation without lessening of the dignity, privilege and affection. When once this has taken place there is no bar to the bestowal of God’s richest benediction. As His children, as those who are actuated by His love and governed by His Spirit, there is ample security that His blessings shall not be abused. A holy confidence and communion are established, and the true end of being is once more secured. P. C.

Amid all your conscious unworthiness, reremember, you are His children. The soiled garments of earth which you may carry to the very portals of glory cannot alter a Father’s feelings toward you, or lead Him to belie or forego His promises. If there be joy in heaven (and that joy deepest in the Father’s heart) over the sinner in the hour of his repentance; what will be that joy in the hour of his glorification, when, stripped of his travel-worn, sin-stained raiment, all his truant wanderings, estrangements and backslidings at an end, he enters the threshold of the paternal home! Macduff.—Every time we are tempted to commit some sin, if we would stop and think, “I am now a child of God; shall a child of God, destined to wear Christ’s image, stoop to be untrue or dishonest or impure or to cherish wrath or bitterness?” would we not turn away from the temptation? Could we sin against God with the consciousness of our high calling in our heart? J. R. M.

21-23. God hears their voice of penitence and sees their tears. They mourn on the high hills, where their great sins of idol worship have been committed, and He kindly invites their return, with the promise to heal their backslidings. They hear and respond, “Yea, Lord, with joy we come!” With glad hearts they now declare, Thou alone art the Lord our God! Our salvation is in Thee! H. C.

22. The invitation God gives them to return to Him: “Return, ye backsliding children.” He calls them “children,” in tenderness and compassion to them; foolish and froward as children, yet “His sons;” whom though He corrects He will not disinherit; for yet they are “children.” H.—Though backslidden, yet He owns us as children. O Father, Thy love ever lives, though folly is in our ways. He calls in love, Return. He promises, “I will heal your backslidings;” I will freely and fully pardon them, though ever so numerous, heinous or aggravating, as though they had never been committed. W. Mason.

God calls on His people to return to Him. Not simple reformation of morals, but the restoration of personal relations with God as the Father of His people is desired. They are apostate children—i.e., they are far from God, though they were once near to Him, and they are still His children. As sinners, men have all lost a first estate of innocence, but have not lost and can never lose their filial relationship to God. Hence the greatness of their guilt and the hope of their restoration. God invites and does not drive; He here exchanges threats for promises. God will heal, not simply receive His children. God alone can heal their apostasies. Man repents of sin, but God cures it. It is our part to turn from the evil, God’s to destroy that evil. Sin is washed out, not by the tears of penitence, but by the blood of Christ. P. C.

24,25. Verily the people have come to see their sins in their true light, as both most disgraceful and most ruinous. This course of thought really includes the first two verses of the next chapter, and may best be considered as addressed to the whole ancient Israel, without distinction between Israel and Judah. There is a beautiful pertinence in this sequel to those great promises in verses 14-18. H. C.

Chap. 4. The first two verses of this chapter ought not to have been separated from the foregoing; being spoken in reply to the confession of the people of Israel. Blayney.—This chapter is connected closely with the preceding, the first two verses, like the preceding context (3 : 19-25), addressing Israel as a whole, without distinguishing Judah from the other tribes; while from verse 3 onward the prophet specially addresses Judah and Jerusalem, solemnly threatening the invasion by the terrible Chaldeans, and blending with this threatening repeated admonitions to deep searchings of heart and radical repentance.

1,2. When Israel shall reverence her own God heartily and truly, other nations will be induced to believe in Him, and to count it their blessedness and their glory to have Him their God. Truly this is a word for God’s people in every age, testifying that when they walk closely and humbly with God, their example and influence will be a power through God to the salvation of the wicked round about them.

3. Here the Lord turns His address from Israel in general to Judah and Jerusalem in particular. “Fallow ground” is that which requires ploughing, and is set apart to be ploughed, and not here (as in our modern phrase), what has been ploughed. The exhortation, “Prepare your ground for seed sowing by putting in the plough and rooting out the thorns,” means, in the moral sense, exterminate the evils of your hearts; break off your evil practices; make a thorough, radical change in your heart and life. H. C.—An unconvinced, unhumbled heart is like fallow ground, ground untilled, unoccupied. It is ground capable of improvement; it is our ground, let out to us, and we must be accountable for it; but it is fallow; it is unfenced, and lies common, it is unfruitful, and of no advantage to the owner, and (which is principally intended) it is overgrown with thorns and weeds, which are the natural product of the corrupt heart, if it be not renewed with grace. Rain and sunshine are lost upon it (Heb. 6 : 7, 8). H.

The life of every man is a process of spiritual husbandry. There is a true analogy between the soul of a man and the field in which a farmer sows his seed. In each case there are latent productive elements that may be turned either to good or evil according to the conditions of their development—capacities of indefinite improvement or of indefinite deterioration, of boundless fruitfulness or of boundless waste. The prolific virtue of the soil will nourish alike the germs of precious corn or of noisome weeds; and, whichever it be, the heavens above, by all the influences they shed down upon it, will promote the process. Thus will the faculties of our spiritual nature foster either the seeds of Divine excellence or of satanic corruption, and then all the laws to which our nature is subject, and all the associations of our life, will help to elaborate the issue, until we reap either a glad harvest of fruits that will endure forever, or one of shame and sorrow—thorns and weeds and briars fit only for the flames. P. C.

Fallow ground may not be utterly fruitless. Even the bramble bears its wholesome fruit, and good thoughts and good deeds spring up in the midst of heathen nations and irreligious people. God’s Spirit has not wholly deserted any. But such fruit is poor compared with the fruit of cultivation, and the crop of it is thin. The good which still pertains to a neglected soul is imperfect, and small in the extreme compared with the good which would spring up in that soul under proper spiritual influences. The highest thought, the purest morality, the noblest effort, the largest charity, are only to be found where the spiritual life is cultivated by worship, instruction and discipline. P. C.

Hence we see that this admonition, whatever its first aspect of obscurity, is really a most important one for all of us. The exhortation is to nothing less than thoroughness in spiritual culture. Thoroughness in the cultivation of the heart, as a soil wherein the seeds of Divine truth are sown, pays in the highest sense of the word. The word through Jeremiah here is but the germ from which our Lord expounded His parable of the four kinds of soil. There is laid on each one of us a heavy burden—the stewardship of a human heart. And yet it is a precious and honorable burden. Far beyond the ripest, sweetest and most copious fruits of the soil beneath our feet, is the fruit that may come from within us. But the culture must be

thorough. True, that means toil, patience, watchfulness, discrimination; but what great work was ever done without them? P. C.

3:6 MOREOVER the LORD said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said after she had done all these things, She will return unto me; but she returned not: and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not: but she also went and played the harlot. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with stocks. And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not returned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the LORD. And the LORD said unto me, Backsliding Israel hath shewn herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; I will not look in anger upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, I will not keep anger for ever. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Return, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am a husband 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 shepherds according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD; neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the stubbornness of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I gave for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of the nations? and I said, Ye shall call me My father; and shall not turn away from following me. Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; for that they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God. Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God. Truly in vain is the help that is looked for from the hills, the tumult on the mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel. But the shameful thing hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. Let us lie down in our shame, and let our confusion cover us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day: and we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

4:1 If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, unto me shalt thou return: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not be removed; and thou shalt swear, As the LORD liveth, in truth, in judgement, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury go forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings. Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry aloud and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fenced cities. Set up a standard toward Zion: flee for safety, stay not; for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction. A lion is gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations; he is on his way, he is gone forth from his place; to make thy land desolate, that thy cities be laid waste, 8 without inhabitant. For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce 9 anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the 10 priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; 11 whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul. At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A hot wind from the bare heights in the wilderness toward the daughter of my 12 people, not to fan, nor to cleanse; a full wind from these shall come for me: now will I 13 also utter judgements against them. Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots 14 shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled. O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How 15 long shall thine evil thoughts lodge within thee? For a voice declareth from Dan, and 16 publisheth evil from the hills of Ephraim: make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against 17 the cities of Judah. As keepers of a field are they against her round about; because she 18 hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD. Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reacheth unto thine heart. 19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me: I cannot hold my peace; because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the 20 alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled; sud- 21 denly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, 22 and hear the sound of the trumpet? For my people is foolish, they know me not; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge. 23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no 24 light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved to and fro. 25, 26 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at 27 the presence of the LORD, and before his fierce anger. For thus saith the LORD, The whole 28 land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have 29 not repented, neither will I turn back from it. The whole city fleeth for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they go into the thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city 30 is forsaken, and not a man dwelleth therein. And thou, when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with scarlet, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou enlargest thine eyes with paint, in vain dost thou make thyself 31 fair; thy lovers despise thee, they seek thy life. For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that gaspeth for breath, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul fainteth before the murderers.

3:6. The Lord said also unto me.

Here begins an entire new section or distinct prophecy, which is continued to the end of the sixth chapter. This prophecy consists of two distinct parts. The first part contains a complaint against Judah, for having exceeded the guilt of her sister Israel, whom God had already cast off for her idolatrous apostasy (verses 6-12). The prophet is hereupon sent to announce to Israel the promise of pardon upon her repentance, and the hopes of a glorious restoration in aftertimes, which are plainly marked out to be the times of the Gospel, when the Gentiles themselves were to become a part of the Church (verses 12-21). The children of Israel, confessing and bewailing their sins, have the same comfortable assurances as before repeated to them (verse 22; chap. 4:2). In the second part, which begins chap. 4:3, and is prefaced with an address to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, exhorting them to prevent the Divine judgments by a timely repentance, the Babylonian invasion is clearly and fully foretold, with all the miseries which would attend it; and the universal and incorrigible depravity of the people is represented at large, and