Jeremiah 3:14-4:4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 3:12-19

Here is a great deal of gospel in these verses, both that which was always gospel, God's readiness to pardon sin and to receive and entertain returning repenting sinners, and those blessings which were in a special manner reserved for gospel times, the forming and founding of the gospel church by bringing into it the children of God that were scattered abroad, the superseding of the ceremonial law, and the uniting of Jews and Gentiles, typified by the uniting of Israel and Judah in their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 3:14

Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord ,.... All of them were children by national adoption, and some by special grace, and yet "backsliders", O monstrous ingratitude! "backsliders", and yet "children", still the relation continues, O marvellous grace! God's own children may backslide, and often do; either in heart, when love waxes cold, faith declines, zeal wanting; when they get into a carnal sleepy frame of spirit, and have not that quick sense of sin, and of duty, as heretofore: or... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 3:14

I will take you one of a city, and two of a family - If there should be but one of a city left, or one willing to return, and two only of a whole tribe, yet will I receive these, and bring them back from captivity into their own land. I have heard these words most sinfully applied to show the nature of a fancied eternal decree of election, that has appointed in several cases one only out of a whole city, and two out of a whole family, to be eternally saved, leaving the rest, according to the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 3:14

Verse 14 Jeremiah repeats the same thing in other words; but God by so many words shews clearer how ready he would be to grant pardon, provided the Israelites really repented. It would have been enough for God to testify once, that he would be reconcilable, but seeing that they were slow and hard to believe, he proceeds in the same strain. It is a wonderful forbearance and kindness that God, finding his favor neglected, and as it were rejected through the sloth of men, should yet persevere, and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 3:1-25

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 3:12-19

Confession of sin the indispensable prerequisite for its pardon. That this is so is shown by the evident fact that if it could have been dispensed with it would have been. For the desire of God to pardon his guilty people is, as this section shows, intense. He will not cease to seek after them even when the punishment of their sin has actually come upon them. Hence ( Jeremiah 3:12 ) he addresses them in the lands of their exile, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Media ( 2 Kings 17:6 ), and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 3:14

Turn, O backsliding children . There is a play upon words, or rather upon senses, in the original, "Turn, ye turned away ones" (comp. Jeremiah 3:12 ). To whom is this addressed? To the Israelites in the narrower sense, for there is nothing to indicate a transition. Long as they have been removed from the paternal hearth, they are still "sons." For I am married unto you . The same Hebrew phrase occurs in Jeremiah 31:32 . Its signification has been a subject of dispute. From the supposed... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 3:14

(second clause, "and I will take you," etc .). Religious individualism. I. BY NATURE MEN LIVE SEPARATE , INDIVIDUAL LIVES . Man is social, yet he is personal. 1. Each soul has its own personality, separate from that of every other soul by immeasurable oceans. Sympathy unites souls, but does not destroy this individuality of being. Each soul has its own secret life, and the deeper the spiritual experience is the more lonely, hidden, and incommunicable will it be.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 3:14

Married to God. "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you." I. THIS SEEMS AN INCREDIBLE STATEMENT . Had it been spoken of angels, or of unfallen man, or of eminent saints, it would have been more easy of belief. But it is of men desperately wicked, and to such, that God says, "I am married unto you ." What infinite condescension and love! II. BUT NEVERTHELESS IT IS TRUE . For: 1. We have the marriage lines, the record of... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Jeremiah 3:14

Children ... married - The twofold relationship gives a double certainty of acceptance. As children, they were sure of a father’s love, as a wife they might hope for a revival of past affection from the husband of their youth.One of a city, and two of a family - The family (in Hebrew) is far larger than a city, as it embraces all the descendants of a common ancestor. Thus, the tribe of Judah was divided into only four or five families. However national the apostasy, it does not involve in its... read more

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