Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, September 16th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Jeremiah 3:22

"People of Israel, you are unfaithful to me, but come back to me. Come back and I will forgive you for being unfaithful. "Just say, ‘Yes, we will come back, because you are the Lord our God.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Backsliders;   Church;   God Continued...;   Repentance;   Sin;   Thompson Chain Reference - Disease, Spiritual;   God's;   Healing;   Health-Disease;   Penitent;   Promises, Divine;   Restoration;   Spiritual;   The Topic Concordance - Healing;   Turning;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Backsliding;   Forgetting God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Solomon's Song;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Backsliding;   Fatherhood of God;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Backsliding;   Jeremiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Marriage;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Backslider;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Ammi;   Backsliding;   Jeremiah;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Heal;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Kingdom of Judah;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Children of God;   Heal;  

Devotionals:

- Daily Light on the Daily Path - Devotion for April 14;   Today's Word from Skip Moen - Devotion for January 13;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Return, you faithless children.I will heal your unfaithfulness.“Here we are, coming to you,for you are the Lord our God.
Hebrew Names Version
Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you are the LORD our God.
King James Version
Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.
English Standard Version
"Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
New American Standard Bible
"Return, you faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to You; For You are the LORD our God.
New Century Version
"Come back to me, you unfaithful children, and I will forgive you for being unfaithful." "Yes, we will come to you, because you are the Lord our God.
Amplified Bible
"Return, O faithless sons," [says the LORD], "I will heal your unfaithfulness." [They answer] "Behold, we come to You, For You are the LORD our God.
World English Bible
Return, you backsliding children, I will heal your backsliding. Behold, we are come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.
Geneva Bible (1587)
O yee disobedient children, returne and I wil heale your rebellions. Behold, we come vnto thee, for thou art the Lord our God.
Legacy Standard Bible
"Return, O faithless sons;I will heal your faithlessness.""Behold, we come to You,For You are Yahweh our God.
Berean Standard Bible
"Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness." "Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
Contemporary English Version
I will tell them, "Come back, and I will cure you of your unfaithfulness." They will answer, "We will come back, because you are the Lord our God.
Complete Jewish Bible
"Return, backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding." "Here we are, we are coming to you, for you are Adonai our God.
Darby Translation
—Return, backsliding children; I will heal your backslidings. … Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God.
George Lamsa Translation
Repent, O you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings; and say, Behold, we are yours; for thou art the LORD our God.
Good News Translation
Return, all of you who have turned away from the Lord ; he will heal you and make you faithful. You say, "Yes, we are coming to the Lord because he is our God.
Lexham English Bible
Return, O apostate children, I will heal your backsliding. ‘Look, we come to you, for you are Yahweh our God.
Literal Translation
Return, O apostate sons; I will heal your apostasies. Behold, we come to You, for You are Jehovah our God.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O ye shrenkinge children, turne agayne, (saynge: lo, we are thine, for thou art the LORDE oure God:) And so shal I heale youre bacturnynges.
American Standard Version
Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art Jehovah our God.
Bible in Basic English
Come back, you children who have been turned away, and I will take away your desire for wandering. See, we have come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings.--'Here we are, we are come unto Thee; for Thou art the LORD our God.
King James Version (1611)
Returne ye backsliding children, and I wil heale your backslidings: Beholde, wee come vnto thee, for thou art the Lord our God.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
O ye disobedient children, turne againe, & so shall I heale your backturnynges. Lo we come vnto thee, for thou art the Lorde our God.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Turn, ye children that are given to turning, and I will heal your bruises.
English Revised Version
Return, ye backsliding children, I will heal your backslidings, Behold, we are come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Be ye conuertid, sones, turnynge ayen, and Y schal heele youre turnyngis awei. Lo! we comen to thee; for thou art oure Lord God.
Update Bible Version
Return, you backsliding sons, I will heal your backslidings. Look, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.
Webster's Bible Translation
Return, ye backsliding children, [and] I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come to thee; for thou [art] the LORD our God.
New English Translation
Come back to me, you wayward people. I want to cure your waywardness. Say, ‘Here we are. We come to you because you are the Lord our God.
New King James Version
"Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings." "Indeed we do come to You, For You are the LORD our God.
New Living Translation
"My wayward children," says the Lord , "come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts." "Yes, we're coming," the people reply, "for you are the Lord our God.
New Life Bible
"Return, O sons who are not faithful. I will heal you and make you faithful." "See, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God.
New Revised Standard
Return, O faithless children, I will heal your faithlessness. "Here we come to you; for you are the Lord our God.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Return ye apostate sons, I will heal your apostasies! Behold us! we have come unto thee, For thou, art Yahweh our God.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Return, you rebellious children, and I will heal your rebellions. Behold we come to thee: for thou art the Lord our God.
Revised Standard Version
"Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
Young's Literal Translation
Turn back, O backsliding sons, I cause your backslidings to cease. -- Behold us, we have come to Thee, For Thou [art] Jehovah our God.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to You; For You are the LORD our God.

Contextual Overview

21 You can hear crying on the bare hills. The people of Israel are crying and praying for mercy. They became very evil. They forgot the Lord their God. 22 "People of Israel, you are unfaithful to me, but come back to me. Come back and I will forgive you for being unfaithful. "Just say, ‘Yes, we will come back, because you are the Lord our God. 23 It was foolish to worship idols on the hills. All the loud parties on the mountains were wrong. Surely the salvation of Israel comes from the Lord our God. 24 That terrible false god Baal has eaten everything our fathers owned. This has happened since we were children. That terrible false god took our fathers' sheep and cattle and their sons and daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame. Let our shame cover us like a blanket. We have sinned against the Lord our God. We and our fathers have sinned. We have not obeyed the Lord our God from the time we were children.'"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Return: Hosea 6:1, Hosea 14:1, Hosea 14:4

we: Jeremiah 31:18, Isaiah 27:8, Song of Solomon 1:4, Hosea 3:5, Hosea 6:1, Hosea 6:2, Hosea 13:4, Hosea 14:8, Zechariah 13:9

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 7:2 - lamented Psalms 80:19 - Turn us Song of Solomon 6:13 - return Isaiah 30:15 - in returning Isaiah 31:6 - Turn Isaiah 57:18 - will heal Jeremiah 3:1 - yet return Jeremiah 3:11 - The backsliding Jeremiah 3:12 - Return Jeremiah 4:1 - wilt return Jeremiah 8:4 - turn Jeremiah 18:11 - return Jeremiah 30:17 - For I Jeremiah 31:22 - backsliding Jeremiah 51:51 - are confounded Ezekiel 20:19 - the Lord Ezekiel 33:11 - turn ye Ezekiel 36:25 - from all your idols Hosea 2:7 - I will Zechariah 1:3 - Turn Malachi 3:7 - Return unto me Matthew 13:15 - and I John 12:40 - heal Romans 2:4 - goodness Hebrews 7:25 - come 1 Peter 2:4 - To

Cross-References

Genesis 1:26
Then God said, "Now let's make humans who will be like us. They will rule over all the fish in the sea and the birds in the air. They will rule over all the large animals and all the little things that crawl on the earth."
Genesis 2:9
Then the Lord God caused all the beautiful trees that were good for food to grow in the garden. In the middle of the garden, he put the tree of life and the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil.
Genesis 3:5
God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!"
Genesis 3:6
The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.
Genesis 3:7
Then it was as if their eyes opened, and they saw things differently. They saw that they were naked. So they got some fig leaves, sewed them together, and wore them for clothes.
Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it."
Genesis 3:13
Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What have you done?" She said, "The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit."
Psalms 22:26
Poor people, come eat and be satisfied. You who have come looking for the Lord , praise him! May your hearts be happy forever.
Proverbs 3:18
Wisdom is like a life-giving tree to those who hold on to her; she is a blessing to those who keep her close.
Jeremiah 22:23
"King, you seem so safe in your palace of cedar. It's as if you live in Lebanon! But when your punishment comes, you will groan. You will be in pain like a woman giving birth!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Return, ye backsliding children,.... This is the call of the Jews to repentance in the latter day; :-.

and I will heal your backslidings; that is, I will forgive your sins. Sins are the diseases of the soul, and the wounds made in it; and pardoning them is healing them. So the Targum,

"I will forgive you when ye return;''

see Psalms 103:3, this is done by the application of the blood of Christ, the only physician, and whose blood is the balm that heals every wound; and this springs from the love of God, and his free favour to his people, even the riches of his grace and abounding mercy through Christ; and is the great motive and inducement, and what gives the greatest encouragement to return unto the Lord, Hosea 14:1.

Behold, we come unto thee; the Targum represents this as what the Jews pretended always to say, and did say, in a hypocritical manner, with which they are upbraided,

"lo, at all times ye say, we return to thy worship, save us;''

and Jarchi is of opinion that these are words the prophet put into their mouths, and taught them to say, and to confess in this manner: but they are rather their own words, arising from a true sense of sin, under the influence of divine grace, and encouraged with the hope and assurance of pardon; declaring that as they were called upon to return, so they did return, and now were come to God by repentance, with confession and acknowledgment of sin, and by prayer and supplication for pardon and by the exercise of faith upon him for it; and also were come into his house to wait upon him, and worship him in his ordinances:

for thou art the Lord our God; not merely as the God of nature and providence, or in a natural way, but in a way of special grace, of which they now will have an application by the Spirit of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Yahweh’s answer to their prayer in Jeremiah 3:21 is immediately followed by their acceptance of the offer of divine mercy.

For - Rather, because ... This profession of faith gives the reason why they return to Yahweh. The whole description is most graphically conceived. The people weeping upon the hills: God’s gracious voice bidding them return: the glad cry of the penitents exclaiming that they come: the profession of faith won from them by the divine love; these form altogether a most touching picture of a national repentance.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 3:22. Return, ye backsliding children — This they gladly receive, and with one voice make their confession to him: "Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art Jehovah our God;" and thence to the end of the chapter, show the reasons why they return unto God.

1. Because he is the true God.

2. Because the idols did not profit them: they could give no help in time of trouble.

3. Because it is the prerogative of God alone to give salvation.

4. Because they had no kind of prosperity since they had abandoned the worship of their Maker. And this was not only their case, but it was the case of their forefathers, who all suffered in consequence of their idolatry and disobedience.

5. These reasons are concluded with a hearty confession of sin, at the thought of which they are confounded; for the remembrance of their sin was grievous to them, and the burden was intolerable. This confession ended, God appears in the next chapter with gracious promises, and proper directions how they are to return, and how to conduct themselves in future.


 
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