Question 1

What does it mean that Israel “played the harlot with many lovers”?

Accepted Answer

When this passage says Israel “played the harlot with many lovers,” it is using strong marriage language to talk about idolatry. God had made a covenant with Israel like a husband with a wife. Instead of staying true to Him, they chased after many other gods and trusted in other nations and powers. Each idol and false trust is pictured as another “lover.” The point is that their unfaithfulness was not a small slip but a pattern of running after one thing after another instead of loving and worshiping the one true God.

Question 2

Why does God mention divorce and a man returning to his wife here?

Accepted Answer

The picture of divorce at the start comes from everyday life and from the law at that time. If a man divorced his wife and she married another man, he was not to take her back again. That situation would be seen as a deep shame and a pollution of the land. God uses this to show how serious Israel’s unfaithfulness is. Humanly speaking, after such repeated betrayal, there would be no going back. Yet God then says, “yet return again to me,” showing that His mercy goes far beyond what people would expect.

Question 3

What are the “high places” and why are they important in this passage?

Accepted Answer

The “high places” were hills or raised spots where people set up altars and images to worship other gods. God tells His people to lift up their eyes and look at those places to see where they have not been “lain with,” meaning there is hardly any high place where they have not practiced idolatry. It is a way of saying, “Look around and admit how widespread your unfaithfulness is.” The high places stand as open proof that they have turned from God again and again, filling the land with spiritual adultery and sin.

Question 4

Why were the showers withheld and there was no latter rain?

Accepted Answer

The withheld showers and lack of latter rain are part of God’s discipline. In that land, early and late rains were needed for crops to grow well. God had warned that if His people turned from Him, He would shut up the heavens. Here, the drought is not random weather but a sign that something is wrong in their relationship with Him. By holding back the rain, God is aiming to wake them up, to show them that their idols cannot help them, and to move them to think, repent, and return to the One who truly provides.

Question 5

What does it mean that they had a “whore’s forehead” and refused to be ashamed?

Accepted Answer

The phrase “a whore’s forehead” describes brazen shamelessness. Instead of blushing or feeling sorrow over their sin, the people had become hard and bold in it. Even while the rain was withheld and judgment was clearly on them, they did not feel any real shame or turn back from their idols. Their faces showed no embarrassment, as if they were proud of what they had done. This picture warns how sin can deaden the conscience so that people no longer feel grief over what offends God, even when He lovingly corrects them.

Question 6

What does the prayer “My father, thou art the guide of my youth” mean here?

Accepted Answer

The words “My father, thou art the guide of my youth” show how God wants His people to speak to Him. He had cared for them from the beginning, like a father guiding a child. Here He is inviting them to remember that relationship and call on Him again. It is both a reminder and an offer: if they will truly return, they may still call Him Father and Guide. At the same time, the passage hints that they could try to say these words without real change, so empty words alone are not enough without turning from sin.

Question 7

Will God keep His anger forever according to this passage?

Accepted Answer

The questions, “Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end?” point to God’s character. By nature, He does not hold on to anger without end. He corrects His people, but He is also ready to forgive when they repent. The sad part in this passage is that, instead of truly turning back, they “spoken and done evil things as thou couldest,” using all their strength to continue in sin. So the hope is that God is merciful and does not delight in anger, but that hope is meant to lead to real repentance, not a false sense of safety.

Question 8

How does this passage apply to people today who feel far from God?

Accepted Answer

This passage shows that even when people have been deeply unfaithful, God still calls, “Return again to me.” It warns that running after many idols, whether obvious or hidden, hardens the heart and can make a person shameless in sin. It also shows that God may use hard times, like the lack of rain, to get our attention. For someone who feels far from God, this invites honest self-examination and a simple, humble return: to cry, “My Father,” admit sin, and turn from it, trusting that God’s mercy is greater than past unfaithfulness.

Jeremiah 3:1

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord.

The Wages of the Harlot

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Jeremiah 3:1

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord.

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The Wages of the Harlot

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