Jeremiah 3:14-17
Chapter 3
14
Come back, faithless people —the Lord says— because I am your master. I will choose one from a city and two from a family and bring you to Zion.
15
Then I will give you shepherds who are after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16
And when you increase and multiply in the land in those days —the Lord says— people will no longer speak of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord; it will no longer be remembered or missed, nor shall it be made again!
17
Then they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and they will no longer follow the stubbornness of their wicked hearts.
Commentaries
Return, You Apostate Children.
These oracles took place during the reign of King Josiah (v. 6), who had reclaimed much of the land that once belonged to the Northern Kingdom. The Word of God was aimed at the survivors of the northern tribes who had not been exiled after Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. These ancient oracles are now used to call for repentance and penance among the exiles who went to Babylon in 597 B.C. Against the backdrop of the earlier allegory of “the two sisters,” God’s judgment and His urgent plea for His people to return to Him become more deeply felt.