a sister (used very widely (like brother) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
Judah
יְהוּדָֽהye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
saw
וַתֵּ֛רֶאva.te.reh'
H7200
to see · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
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
Ezekiel 16:46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right han…
2 Kings 17:13-14 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, an…
2 Chronicles 30:6-12 So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the ki…
Jeremiah 3:8-11 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet he…
Ezekiel 23:2-4 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother:
Hosea 6:1-4 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.
Hosea 14:1 O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 3:6-11
The date of this sermon must be observed, in order to the right understanding of it; it was in the days of Josiah, who set on foot a blessed work of reformation, in which he was hearty, but the people were not sincere in their compliance with it; to reprove them for that, and warn them of the consequences of their hypocrisy, is the scope of that which God here said to the prophet, and which he delivered to them. The case of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah is here compared, the ten tribes that revolted from the throne of David and the temple of Jerusalem and the two tribes that adhered to both. The distinct history of those two kingdoms we have in the two books of the Kings, and here we…
And I said, after she had done these things,.... All these idolatries, in the several places mentioned, after she had repeated them over and over; the Lord sent to them by the Prophets Hosea, Amos, Micah, and others, who prophesied before the captivity of the ten tribes, and entreated them, saying,
turn unto me: to my worship, as the Targum; from their idols, to him the living God; they were not without admonitions, exhortations, and declarations of grace, and so were without excuse:
but she returned not; to fear and serve the Lord, but remained in idolatry, obstinate and inflexible:
and her treacherous sister Judah saw it; her treachery and breach of covenant, as the Septuagint, Syriac,…
Jeremiah 3:6-8
6. The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.
6. Et dixit Jehova ad me in diebus Josiae regis, An vidisti quid fecerit aversatrix (alii vertunt, rebellis) Israel? Profecta est ipsa super omnem montem excelsum, et subtus omnem arborem frondosam, et scortata est illic:
7. And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it
7. Et dixi, Post facere ipsam (hoc est, postquam fecit omnia haec,) Ad me revertere (alii in tertia persona…
The Church Fathers
Those who place themselves far from your care and choose to serve idols will reap the destructive fruit of defection. He calls idolatry infidelity here. God likewise says also through Jeremiah, "She went up every high hill and under every green tree and was unfaithful there. I said, after all this infidelity of hers, 'Return unto me,' and she did not return." Again, "She committed adultery with tree and stone," meaning, "Leaving me, her spouse, she served false gods." Accordingly, here too he called the worship of idols infidelity.
This is a new kind of his goodness that even after adultery God nevertheless would receive the soul that returns and repents from the heart as he also says through the prophet, "If a woman leaves her husband and sleeps with another man, shall she return to her husband? Will she not be contaminated? You, however, have committed fornication with your many shepherds and returned to me." He says the same thing elsewhere, "After you committed fornication, with all these, I said, 'Return to me.' And you have not thus returned, says the Lord."
Then He directs His speech unto the city, in this way too being minded to correct His hearers, and saith, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" What meaneth the repetition? this is the manner of one pitying her, and bemoaning her, and greatly loving her. For, like as unto a woman beloved, herself indeed ever loved, but who had despised Him that loved her, and therefore on the point of being punished, He pleads, being now about to inflict the punishment. Which He doth in the prophets also, using these words, "I said, Turn thou unto me, and she returned not."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Marriage — Was instituted in Paradise when man was in innocence (Gen. 2:18-24). Here we have its original charter, which was confirmed by our Lord, as the basis on which all regulations are to be framed (Matt.…
Condescension Of God · Expostulates with backsliding Israel — Expostulates with backsliding Israel
Conversion · Exhortations to — Exhortations to
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Jews, The · National character of: Unfaithful to covenant engagements — National character of: Unfaithful to covenant engagements
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).
And I said, sc. to myself, i.e., I thought. A speaking by the prophets (Rashi) is not to be thought of; for it is no summons, turn again to me, but only the thought, they will return. It is true that God caused backsliding Israel to be ever called again to repentance by the prophets, yet without effect. Meantime, however, no reference is made to what God did in this connection, only Israel's behaviour towards the Lord being here kept in view. The Chet. ותּראה is the later usage; the Keri substitutes the regular contracted form ותּרא. The object, it (the whoredom of Israel), may be gathered from what precedes.
Jer 3:8
Many commentators have taken objection to the וארא, because the sentence, "…
King Josiah’s reforms failed to reach many of the common people. The love of idol worship common in northern Israel also continued among the farmers and shepherds of Judah. They failed to learn from the fate of the northern tribes, and even surpassed their practice of adultery (see Ezek 16:47-48).
Rashi on Jeremiah 3:7
And I said through My prophets, Amos and Hosea son of Beeri and the other prophets, “You shall return to Me.”
And her treacherous sister Judah saw it i.e., saw all this. The appellation “treacherous” is harsher than “backsliding.” Israel, since they were the first to sin, and they did not see any retribution from which to learn and to repent, are called “backsliding.” Judah, who saw that these went in exile and did not receive correction, are called “treacherous.”
