Jeremiah 3:20
in Jeremiah 3But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith Jehovah.
KJV
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.
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This verse in Jeremiah 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 20) But as a woman may despise her lover, so the house of Israel has despised Me, says the Lord. The voice of Christ is near the people of Judah, to whom He said: I will make you as sons, and I will give you a desirable land. And you shall call Me Father, and you shall not cease to go after Me.
This site's exposition
How I long to make you My sons
on Jeremiah 3:19-21
The LORD longs to give Israel “a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations”. Instead, “as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel”. A voice rises “on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy”.
This site's exposition
so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel
Betrayed translates the same Hebrew root as the name unfaithful given to Judah in verses 7 to 11. The house of Israel now shares the name. Israel was bound to the LORD by a marriage covenant, and breaking it was treason.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Our obstinacy and scorn, reflecting our spirit of rebellious disdain for him when he urges us to return and be saved, is described in the following comparison. He says, "And I said you shall call me Father and shall not cease to walk after me. But as a woman that despises her lover, so has the house of Israel despised me, says the Lord." It is only appropriate that as he has compared Jerusalem with an adulteress forsaking her husband, he compares his own love and persevering goodness with a man's undying love for a woman. For the goodness and love of God that he has always shown to the human race could not be more appropriately described by any comparison than the case of a man inflamed with most ardent love for a woman. God's love is overcome by no injuries that might make him stop caring for our salvation or that might drive him from his first intention as if he were defeated by our sins. Instead, he is consumed by a more burning passion for her, the more he sees that he is slighted and despised by her.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
As an adulterous wife elopes from her husband, so have they gone a whoring from God. They were joined to God by a marriage-covenant, but they broke that covenant, they dealt treacherously with God, who had always dealt kindly and faithfully with them. Treacherous dealing with men like ourselves is bad enough, but to deal treacherously with God is to deal treasonably.
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband,....
The charge runs very high here. They had multiplied their idols and their idolatries. To have admitted one strange God among them would have been bad enough, but they were insatiable in their lustings after false worships: Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers,
So the prophet excites Judah to repent because Israel did: and well it were if the zeal of others less likely would provoke us to strive to get before them and go beyond them in that which is good.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אָכֵ֛ן | ʾakhen | nevertheless | H403 → | 18 times |
| בָּגְדָ֥ה | bagedah | she deals treacherously | H898 → | 49 times |
| אִשָּׁ֖ה | ʾishah | a woman | H802 → | 781 times |
| מֵרֵעָ֑הּ | mereah | from companion her | H7453 → | 188 times |
| כֵּ֣ן | ken | so | H3651 → | 771 times |
| בְּגַדְתֶּ֥ם | begadtem | you have dealt treacherously | H898 → | 49 times |
| בִּ֛י | bi | with <the> me | ||
| בֵּ֥ית | beit | O house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| נְאֻם־ | neum- | [the] utterance of | H5002 → | 376 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
אָכֵ֛ןnevertheless
ʾakhenH403 →18 times
בָּגְדָ֥הshe deals treacherously
bagedahH898 →49 times
אִשָּׁ֖הa woman
ʾishahH802 →781 times
מֵרֵעָ֑הּfrom companion her
mereahH7453 →188 times
כֵּ֣ןso
kenH3651 →771 times
בְּגַדְתֶּ֥םyou have dealt treacherously
begadtemH898 →49 times
בִּ֛יwith <the> me
bi
בֵּ֥יתO house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֖לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
נְאֻם־[the] utterance of
neum-H5002 →376 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Hosea 6:7But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.
it leads to
- Hosea 5:7
They have been unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their land.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 3:11
“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
- Hosea 8:1
Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.
- Job 31:33
if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
- Hosea 5:7
Through
Hosea 3:1Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 3:12–14
Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be…
- Hosea 1:2–3
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”
- Micah 7:18–20
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Jeremiah 3:12–14
Through
Isaiah 48:8You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.
it leads to
- Psalms 58:3
The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.
- Psalms 58:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Cassian, CONFERENCE 2:13.8; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.