an untruth · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
hills
מִגְּבָע֖וֹתmi.ge.va.'ot
H1389
a hillock · preposition + noun, common feminine plural absolute
multitude
הָמ֣וֹןha.Mon
H1995
a noise · noun, common masculine singular absolute
mountains
הָרִ֑יםha.Rim
H2022
a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · noun, common masculine plural absolute
truly
אָכֵן֙'a.Khen
H403
firmly · interjection
LORD
בַּיהֹוָ֣הba.Yah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
God
אֱלֹהֵ֔ינוּ'e.lo.Hei.nu
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
salvation
תְּשׁוּעַ֖תte.shu.'At
H8668
rescue (literal or figurative · noun, common feminine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵֽלYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 121:1-2 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
Psalms 3:8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvatio…
Ezekiel 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all th…
Hosea 1:7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by…
John 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Psalms 37:39-40 But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.
Isaiah 43:11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 3:20–end
Here is, I. The charge God exhibits against Israel for their treacherous departures from him, Jer 3:20. As an adulterous wife elopes from her husband, so have they gone a whoring from God. They were joined to God by a marriage-covenant, but they broke that covenant, they dealt treacherously with God, who had always dealt kindly and faithfully with them. Treacherous dealing with men like ourselves is bad enough, but to deal treacherously with God is to deal treasonably.
II. Their conviction and confession of the truth of this charge, Jer 3:21. When God reproved them for their apostasy, there were some among them, even such as God would take and bring to Zion, whose voice was heard upon the hi…
multitude of mountains--that is, the multitude of gods worshipped on them (compare Psa 121:1-2, Margin).
John Gill on Jeremiah 3:23
Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains,.... From any natural defence, by hills and mountains encompassing; or from idols worshipped on hills and mountains. So the Targum,
"truly in vain we worship upon the hills, and for no profit are we gathered upon the mountains;''
and to this purpose Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; or from the multitude of the people, the kingdoms of the world, and the nations of the earth, from whom the Jews have in vain expected salvation and deliverance:
truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel; or, "in the Word of the Lord our God", as the Targum; in Christ, the essential Word of God, is the salvation o…
Jeremiah 3:22-23
22. Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
22. Revertimini, filii rebelles; sanabo transgressiones vestras. Ecce, nos venimus ad to, quia Jehova Deus noster.
23. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
23. Certe fallacia a collibus, multitudo montium; certe in Jehova Deo nostro sans Israel.
God here exhorts the Israelites to repent, that by their example he might move the Jews. The benefit of what is here taught might indeed have reached to the miserable captives and exiles; but as…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 23.) Behold, we come to you: for you are the Lord our God. Truly the hills were deceitful, and the multitude (or strength) of the mountains: truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. Let the penitent say this, forsaking all pride, and the multitude or height of the mountains and hills, by which he exalted himself against God, and being humbled, let him speak: Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.
Then, having condemned our former evils — when we thought the idols great and lofty things, and worshipped and regarded as wonderful the things we served; but now have condemned them, judging that all those things were false and were nothing — we say, turning back: "Truly the hills were for a lie," we too having condemned our former lofty things and our former wonders. And perhaps, if we exercise some skill, we shall find the difference between the hills and the mountains among the nations, which, having forsaken, those who said "Behold, here we are, we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God" accuse them as false, both the hills and the mountains. What, then, is the difference between the mountains and the hills among the nations, which, having condemned, we say: "Truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains"? This we say, having condemned our former things. Of the objects of worship among the nations, some are worshipped as gods, and some as heroes. For they themselves confess concerning certain of them that they were formerly men and were deified. They worship Heracles not as a god by birth, but as one changed from a man into a god; they worship Asclepius as one who, from among men, on account of virtue, was changed into a god. But whenever they worship the fathers of these, named gods among them, they worship them not as having changed from men into gods, but, as those men suppose, as being gods from the beginning. Those, then, who are reckoned by the nations to be gods from the beginning will be the mountains and "the power of the mountains," while those reckoned among them now to be gods, but formerly to have been men, these are "the hills." Having come to know, then, both ranks of the objects of worship, "truly the hills were for a lie, and the power of the mountains." For those who serve them do not suppose that these things are false. On this account they think that the oracles and the cures are true cures, not seeing the difference between all "power and signs and wonders of falsehood, in all deceit of unrighteousness among those who are perishing," and every power of signs and wonders of truth. For the things which Christ Jesus did, these were signs of truth, and, before him, the things which Moses did were a power of truth. But the things which the Egyptians did were indeed signs and wonders, but of falsehood. And so also…
Dictionary and topics
Confidence · FALSE — FALSE
Salvation · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The return of Israel to its God. - Jer 3:19. "I thought, O how I will put thee among the sons, and give thee a delightful land, a heritage of the chiefest splendour of the nations! and thought, 'My Father,' ye will cry to me, and not turn yourselves away from me. Jer 3:20. truly as a wife faithlessly forsakes her mate, so are ye become faithless towards me, house of Israel, saith Jahveh. Jer 3:21. A voice upon the bare-topped hills is heard, suppliant weeping of the sons of Israel; for that they have made their way crooked, forsaken Jahveh their God. Jer 3:22. 'Return, ye backsliding sons, I will heal your backsliding,' Behold, we come to thee; for Thou Jahveh art our God. Jer 3:23. Truly th…
The Lord heard the touching prayer of devotion; the people affirmed their acceptance of the Lord as their God (31:7; Pss 38:18; 121:1-2). • The people even confessed that they had worshiped idols and engaged in religious orgies. They admitted that all this was a delusion (Jer 11:13; 14:20; Hos 9:10) and acknowledged that salvation is found only in the Lord. Their ancestors had squandered their wealth by killing their animals and children in honor of Baal.
3:22 The Lord did not forget his children. Out of the depths of his being, he called them to come back so that he could heal them. He desired to set aside his anger and pour forth his love (30:17; 33:6; Hos 6:1; 14:4).
Rashi on Jeremiah 3:23
Truly, in vain we awaited from the hills and the multitude of mountains where we worshipped idols.
Truly in truth.
