Jeremiah 3:4
in Jeremiah 3Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth?
KJV
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
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This verse in Jeremiah 3
Commentary
10 notes on this verseWilt thou not - cry unto me, My father - Wilt thou not allow me to be thy Creator and Preserver, and cease thus to acknowledge idols? See on Jer 2:27 (note).
This site's exposition
If a man divorces his wife
on Jeremiah 3:1-5
The chapter opens on a point of law, the rule of Deuteronomy 24. Israel's case goes past that law, for “you have played the harlot with many lovers”. The people call the LORD “My Father” and their “friend from youth”, while “you keep doing all the evil you can”.
This site's exposition
My Father, You are my friend from youth
Friend from youth is the phrase Proverbs 2:17 uses for the husband a straying wife leaves behind. Judah speaks it to the LORD while its idols still stand. Father is the name 2:27 gave to a tree.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 4, 5.) Therefore, at least from now on, call me, my Father, you are the leader of my virginity: will you be angry forever, or will you persist until the end? Let the heretics be ashamed who do not want to convert to better things, nor return to their Father and Creator, and let them hear: At least from now on, call me, my Father, you are the leader of my virginity. He himself embraces your soul with his affection, and teaches how one should pray and repent.
Accusation is censure of wrongdoers.… Of this help the divine Instructor made use by Jeremiah, saying, "You have a prostitute's forehead. You were shameless toward all. You did not call me to the house, I who am your father, and Lord of your virginity." "And a fair and graceful harlot skilled in enchanted potions." With consummate art, after applying to the virgin the disgraceful name of whoredom, he at once calls her back to an honorable life by filling her with shame.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Wilt thou not at this time, nay, wilt thou not from this time and forward, cry unto me? Whatever thou hast said or done hitherto, wilt thou not from this time apply to me? From this time of conviction and correction, now that thou hast been made to see thy sins (
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Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me,....
The impenitence of Judah, and their persisting in sin, are aggravated from the judgments of God upon Israel, which they should have taken warning by,
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
from this time--not referring, as MICHAELIS thinks, to the reformation begun the year before, that is, the twelfth of Josiah; it means--now at once, now at last. me--contrasted with the "stock" whom they had heretofore called on as "father" (Jer 2:27; Lu 15:18). thou art--rather, "thou wast." guide of . . . youth--that is, husband (Jer 2:2;
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A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Or, Hast thou Not from this time called “me, My Father, thou art the” husband “of my youth?” i. e., from the time of Josiah’s reforms in his eighteenth year, in opposition to “of old time” Jer 2:20.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲל֣וֹא | halo' | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| מֵעַ֔תָּה | meatah | from now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| קָרָ֥את | karati | have you called | H7121 → | 733 times |
| לִ֖י | li | to <the> me | ||
| אָבִ֑י | ʾavi | O father my | H1 → | 1212 times |
| אַלּ֥וּף | ʾaluf | [were] [the] close friend of | H441 → | 69 times |
| נְעֻרַ֖י | neurai | youth<s> my | H5271 → | 47 times |
| אָֽתָּה׃ | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
הֲל֣וֹא¿ not
halo'H3808 →5168 times
מֵעַ֔תָּהfrom now
meatahH6258 →433 times
קָרָ֥אתhave you called
karatiH7121 →733 times
לִ֖יto <the> me
li
אָבִ֑יO father my
ʾaviH1 →1212 times
אַלּ֥וּף[were] [the] close friend of
ʾalufH441 →69 times
נְעֻרַ֖יyouth<s> my
neuraiH5271 →47 times
אָֽתָּה׃you
ʾatahH859 →1094 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
Jeremiah 2:2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness,…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 16:60
But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
- Ezekiel 16:8
Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a…
- Jeremiah 11:6
Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear the words of this covenant and carry them out.
- Ezekiel 16:60
Through
Jeremiah 3:19Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never…
it leads to
- Romans 8:15–17
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- 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…
- Romans 8:15–17
Through
Jeremiah 31:9They 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…
it leads to
- Exodus 4:22
Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son,
- Jeremiah 50:4
“In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, the children of Israel and the children of Judah will come together, weeping as they come, and will seek the LORD their God.
- Matthew 5:4
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
- Exodus 4:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.