New International Version
Jeremiah 3:14
14“Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion.
Jeremiah 3:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
- English Standard Version (ESV)Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“Return home, you wayward children,” says the Lord, “for I am your master. I will bring you back to the land of Israel— one from this town and two from that family— from wherever you are scattered.
Context of Jeremiah 3:14
12Go, proclaim this message toward the north: “ ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the Lord, ‘I will not be angry forever. 13Only acknowledge your guilt— you have rebelled against the Lord your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’ ” declares the Lord. “Return, faithless people,” declares the Lord, “for I am your husband. I will choose you—one from a town and two from a clan—and bring you to Zion. 15Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. 16In those days, when your numbers have increased greatly in the land,” declares the Lord, “people will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made.
Read all of Jeremiah 3Jeremiah 3:14 word by word
שׁ֣וּבוּ בָנִ֤ים שׁוֹבָבִים֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה כִּ֥י אָנֹכִ֖י בָּעַ֣לְתִּי בָכֶ֑ם וְלָקַחְתִּ֨י אֶתְכֶ֜ם אֶחָ֣ד מֵעִ֗יר וּשְׁנַ֙יִם֙ מִמִּשְׁפָּחָ֔ה וְהֵבֵאתִ֥י אֶתְכֶ֖ם צִיּֽוֹן׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Turnשׁוּבshûb · to return: returnH7725
- O backslidingשׁוֹבָבshôbâb · turning backH7726
- childrenבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
- saithנְאֻםne'ûm · utteranceH5002
- the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
- for I am marriedבָּעַלbâ‛al · rule: to marryH1166
- unto you: and I will takeלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
- you oneאֶחָד'echâd · oneH259
- of a cityעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892
- and twoשְׁנַ֫יִםshenayim shettayim · twoH8147
- of a familyמִשְׁפָּחָהmishpâchâh · familyH4940
- and I will bringבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): bringH935
- you to Zionצִיּוֹןtsîyôn · ZionH6726
Cross-references for Jeremiah 3:14
- Jeremiah 2:19Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
- Jeremiah 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?” declares the Lord.
- Jeremiah 2:2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “This is what the Lord says: “ ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.
- Jeremiah 31:32It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.
- Isaiah 54:5For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.
- Hosea 2:19I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.
- Jeremiah 23:3“I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number.
- Jeremiah 31:8See, I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the lame, expectant mothers and women in labor; a great throng will return.
- Isaiah 1:9Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.
- Isaiah 6:13And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.”
- Isaiah 10:22Though your people be like the sand by the sea, Israel, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overwhelming and righteous.
- Isaiah 11:11In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.
- Isaiah 17:6Yet some gleanings will remain, as when an olive tree is beaten, leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches, four or five on the fruitful boughs,” declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
- Isaiah 24:13So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
- Ezekiel 34:11“ ‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.
- Zechariah 13:7“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me!” declares the Lord Almighty. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
Commentaries on Jeremiah 3:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14I will take you one of a city, and two of a family - If there should be but one of a city left, or one willing to return, and two only of a whole tribe, yet will I receive these, and bring them back from captivity into their own land. I have heard these words most sinfully applied to show the nature of a fancied eternal decree of election, that has appointed in several cases one only out of a whole city, and two out of a whole family, to be eternally…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14Children married - The twofold relationship gives a double certainty of acceptance. As children, they were sure of a father‘s love, as a wife they might hope for a revival of past affection from the husband of their youth. One of a city, and two of a family - The family (in Hebrew) is far larger than a city, as it embraces all the descendants of a common ancestor. Thus, the tribe of Judah was divided into only four or five families. However national the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-20Verses 12-20 See God's readiness to pardon sin, and the blessings reserved for gospel times. These words were proclaimed toward the north; to Israel, the ten tribes, captive in Assyria. They are directed how to return. If we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and just to forgive them. These promises are fully to come to pass in the bringing back the Jews in after-ages. God will graciously receive those that return to him; and by his grace, he takes…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14Return: The Lord once spoke to all Israel like a husband to an unfaithful wife. Now, he calls Israel faithless children. The Lord will bring chosen exiles back to the promised land (Jeremiah 31:6, 32; Hosea 2:19–20; Romans 11:5). to Zion: This refers to Jerusalem in the land of Israel.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. I am married--literally, "I am Lord," that is, husband to you (so Jr 31:32; compare Ho 2:19, 20; Is 54:5). Gesenius, following the Septuagint version of Jr 31:32, and Paul's quotation of it (He 8:9), translates, "I have rejected you"; so the corresponding Arabic, and the idea of lordship, may pass into that of looking down upon, and so rejecting. But the Septuagint in this passage translates, "I will be Lord over you." And the "for" has much more…Read the comment
Topics related to Jeremiah 3:14
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Jeremiah 3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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