Yeremia 3:14-18

3:14 “Come back to me, my wayward sons,” says the Lord, “for I am your true master. ¹  If you do, ²  I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion. 3:15 I will give you leaders ³  who will be faithful to me. ⁴  They will lead you with knowledge and insight. 3:16 In those days, your population will greatly increase ⁵  in the land. At that time,” says the Lord, “people will no longer talk about having the ark ⁶  that contains the Lord’s covenant with us. ⁷  They will not call it to mind, remember it, or miss it. No, that will not be done any more! ⁸  3:17 At that time the city of Jerusalem ⁹  will be called the Lord’s throne. All nations will gather there in Jerusalem to honor the Lord’s name. ¹⁰  They will no longer follow the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. ¹¹  3:18 At that time ¹²  the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited. ¹³  Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession. ” ¹⁴ 

[3:14]  ¹ tn Or “I am your true husband.”

[3:14]  sn There is a wordplay between the term “true master” and the name of the pagan god Baal. The pronoun “I” is emphatic, creating a contrast between the Lord as Israel’s true master/husband versus Baal as Israel’s illegitimate lover/master. See 2:23-25.

[3:14]  ² tn The words, “If you do” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection of the Hebrew verb with the preceding.

[3:15]  ³ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[3:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “after/according to my [own] heart.”

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “you will become numerous and fruitful.”

[3:16]  ⁶ tn Or “chest.”

[3:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “the ark of the covenant.” It is called this because it contained the tables of the law which in abbreviated form constituted their covenant obligations to the Lord, cf. Exod 31:18; 32:15; 34:29.

[3:16]  ⁸ tn Or “Nor will another one be made”; Heb “one will not do/make [it?] again.”

[3:17]  ⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will gather to the name of the Lord.”

[3:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the stubbornness of their evil hearts.”

[3:18]  ¹² tn Heb “In those days.”

[3:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “the house of Judah will walk together with the house of Israel.”

[3:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the land that I gave your [fore]fathers as an inheritance.”