jeremiah 3 and 4

Read Jeremiah 3 and 4 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

Jer 2:29-3:5 {p} The transgression + harlotries of YHVH’s people, even though they deny they have sinned
Jer 3:6-10 {s} Treacherous Judah did not learn from the fate of backsliding Israel, and has not returned to YHVH with a whole heart
Jer 3:11-17 {s} YHVH’s call to the north, to backsliding Israel: return to Me, and I will bring you to Zion
Jer 3:18-25 {s} Israel’s response: We do come to You, O YHVH our God, for in You alone is the salvation of Israel
Jer 4:1-2 {s} YHVH calls Israel to return to Him, and He will forgive them/ the nations shall glory in Him
Jer 4:3-8 {p} Judah + Jerusalem: circumcise your hearts, for the destroyer of nations is coming from the north
Jer 4:9 {s} In that day the heart of the king + princes shall perish/ priests + prophets shall be astonished
Jer 4:10-18 {p} The sword reaches to the heart of Judah in judgment against her: wash your heart of wicked ways
Jer 4:19-21 {p} The pain of Jeremiah’s heart, for he hears the sound of war + plunder against his people
Jer 4:22-26 {s} YHVH’s foolish people/ the vision of the earth, a desolate wilderness, without form and void
Jer 4:27-31 {p} The desolation + anguish of the daughter of Zion, but YHVH will not make a full end

The beautiful chiastic structure:

1a) Jer 2:29-3:3, Transgressions + harlotries of YHVH’s people, without remorse/ They have polluted the land;

1b) Jer 3:4-5 {p} Will Judah cry, ‘My Father, will You remain angry forever?’ For you have spoken +done evil things;

1c) Jer 3:6-10 {s} Judah has not returned to Me with a whole heart, but in pretense, says YHVH;

1d) Jer 3:11-22a {s} YHVH’s call to the north, to backsliding Israel: Return to Me, and I will bring you to Zion;

1a) Jer 3:11-12, Proclaim to the north: Return, backsliding Israel, for I am merciful + will not remain angry forever;
1b) Jer 3:13, Only acknowledge your iniquity, transgressions, harlotries, that you have not obeyed My voice;
1c) Jer 3:14a, “Return, O backsliding children,” says YHVH; “for I am married to you;”
1d) Jer 3:14b-16a, I will take + bring you to Zion/ feed you with knowledge + understanding/ you will multiply + increase in the land;
central axis) Jer 3:16b-17 {s} “That they will say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ It shall not come to mind, nor shall they remember it, nor shall they visit it, nor shall it be made anymore. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts;”
2d) Jer 3:18-19a, Judah + Israel shall come together out of the north into the land/ How shall I make you sons;
2c) Jer 3:19b, “You shall call Me, ‘My Father,’ and not turn away from Me;”
2b) Jer 3:20-21, The house of Israel has treacherously departed from + forgotten Me/ perverted their way;
2a) Jer 3:22a, Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings;

central axis) Jer 3:22b-25 {s} Israel’s response: “Indeed we do come to You, for You are the Lord our God. Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth— their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God;”

2d) Jer 4:1-2 {s} YHVH calls Israel to return to Him, and He will forgive them/ the nations shall glory in Him;

2c) Jer 4:3-4a, Thus says YHVH to Judah + Jerusalem: Circumcise the foreskins of your hearts to YHVH;

2b) Jer 4:4b, Lest My fierce anger not turn back from you, because of the evil of your doings;

2a) Jer 4:5-8 {p} Disaster + destruction coming upon Judah + Jerusalem, because of their transgressions.

The structure highlights the house of Israel’s and the house of Judah’s besetting sin: backsliding, not remaining faithful to her husband YHVH. The structure reveals the root cause of backsliding: not having a wholly circumcised heart toward YHVH.

But the beauty of the 1D pair and its solution to the central problem, how YHVH heals their backsliding: They shall no more say or make the ark of the covenant of the LORD. The ark was the box in which were kept the two tablets of stone on which were written the Ten Commandments. The box was covered by the lid with the two golden cherubim, facing each other. This lid was called the Mercy Seat, and was considered the Throne of God. His is a throne of mercy, Amen? It was the place where His presence dwelt. Why will they not speak of it any more? Because the throne of God will not be on a box, but in a city – Jerusalem – the place the nations shall be gathered to. Redeemed Judah, Israel, and all nations shall have their citizenship in Zion and not with the kingdoms of this world any longer. It is in the City of God that the throne of God will be found – for the citizens of His Kingdom obey the Law of His Kingdom, from new hearts:

“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jer 31:33-34

“For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God.” Eze 36:24-28

How shall He bring them in among the children, and give them the land of their fathers, the most beautiful heritage of the nations? By making them His children, who are born, not of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of the Spirit; for they will call Him, “My Father,” in truth.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Joh 1:12-13