Jeremiah 3:21

Translations

Modern

A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.

Traditional

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.

Literal

A voice on the barren heights is heard, the weeping and pleadings of the sons of Israel. For they have perverted their way; they have forgotten YHWH their God.

Latin

Vox in viis audita est, ploratus et ululatus filiorum Israël: quoniam iniquam fecerunt viam suam; obliti sunt Domini Dei sui.

Original

Hebrew

English

A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.

Notes

Jeremiah 3:21–4:2

The people, held captive in Assyria, claimed they had repented of their sins. However, their words were insincere, and the Lord rejected their plea. God told his people that if they truly wanted to return to him, they had to abandon the hilltop altars where they worshiped idols and remove all traces of idolatry from their religion.

Jeremiah 3:11–4:2

The Lord asked Israel to repent, return, and reconcile with him (contrast Jeremiah 2:1–3:10). Israel had sinned and faced punishment. Now, the people of Judah sinned even more openly than their northern relatives, ignoring the lesson the Lord taught Israel (Ezekiel 16:51–52). However, it was still not too late to repent and become the blessing to the nations (Jeremiah 4:1–2) that God intended them to be (Genesis 12:3).

Theme notes and profiles

Hope Beyond Judgment The Broken Covenant The Choice of Life or Death

Events

Prophecies of Jeremiahc. 628 BC

Related verses

2 Corinthians 7:10
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation without regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
Jeremiah 3:2
“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
Jeremiah 2:32
Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.
Jeremiah 31:9
They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
Isaiah 15:2
Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.
Isaiah 17:10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines—
Hosea 8:14
Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; Judah has multiplied its fortified cities. But I will send fire upon their cities, and it will consume their citadels.
Micah 3:9
Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,
Job 33:27
Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
Zechariah 12:10–14
Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
Numbers 22:32
The angel of the LORD asked him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out to oppose you, because your way is perverse before me.
Ezekiel 23:35
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’”

Parallels

Hosea 14:1–3 Zechariah 1:1–6

People

Israel: Patriarch, son of Isaac, father of twelve tribes

Glossary

Backsliding Book of Jeremiah Hosea, Book of Jeremiah (Person)

Topics

Backsliders: Backsliding of Israel Backsliders: Promises To Church: Backslidden Forgetting God: Backsliders are Guilty of Forgetting God: Backsliders Guilty of Repentance: Exemplified Sin: Confession of Sin: should be Mourned Over

Jeremiah 3:21

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