Bible Commentary

Jeremiah 3:9

Jeremiah 3:9

John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible · John Gill (1697–1771) · Public Domain

And it came to pass, through the lightness of her whoredom,.... Or the "swiftness" of it; when it was once set on foot, it ran through the land presently one taking it from and following the example of another; or it became a light thing with her to commit idolatry; it was looked upon as a small thing, a trivial offence at most: so the Targum,"it came to pass that her idols were light in her eyes;''not lightly esteemed of, but it was a light thing to commit idolatry with them; interpreting the word as the Masora, which it follows: and to the same sense the Septuagint version, "her fornication was for nothing"; it stood for nothing, it was not reckoned as a sin: the Arabic version is, "her fornication was with nothing"; with an idol, which is nothing in the world, , some choose to render it, "because of the voice or fame of her whoredom" , or idolatry; it sounded forth, and the fame, or rather infamy of it, went out through the whole land: wherefore it follows,that she defiled the land; polluted it with sin, involved it in guilt, and exposed it to punishment:and committed adultery with stones and with stocks; that is, with images made of stone and wood, which they served and worshipped as gods; and is the adultery or idolatry they are charged with, and by which the land was defiled.

The Targum is,"she erred or committed idolatry with the worshippers of stone and wood.''This, by what follows, seems to be understood not of Judah, but of Israel. lqm "a levitate", a llq, "velocem esse", Calvin.

Heb.

The Daily Devotional

One devotional. Every morning.

The full reading, the passage behind it, and where to go deeper — in your inbox before the day starts. No ads, ever.

We'll send one email to confirm it's really you. Unsubscribe in one tap, any time.

Continue tomorrow

Turn Bible study into a daily habit

Read today's devotional, save your progress, and receive a gentle daily reminder.

Recommended reading

More for Jeremiah 3:9

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

Other commentaries

Jeremiah 3 — OverviewJeremiah 3 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleThe foregoing chapter was wholly taken up with reproofs and threatenings against the people of God, for their apostasies from him; but in this chapter gracious invitations and encouragements are given them to…Jeremiah 3 — OverviewJeremiah 3 · Treasury of Scripture KnowledgeJeremiah 3:1, God’s great mercy in Judah’s vile whoredom; Jeremiah 3:6, Judah is worse than Israel; Jeremiah 3:12, The promises of the gospel to the penitent; Jeremiah 3:20, Israel reproved, and called by God, makes a…Jeremiah 3 — OverviewJeremiah 3 · John Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleIn this chapter the sins of the people of Israel and Judah are exposed; particularly their idolatry, signified by playing the harlot; which is aggravated by the number of lovers or idols they had worshipped; by the many…Jeremiah 3:1-25Jeremiah 3:1-25 · The Pulpit CommentaryEXPOSITION That this chapter (to which the first four verses of Jeremiah 4:1-31. ought to have been attached) belongs to the time of Josiah seems to be proved by Jeremiah 3:6, and the years immediately following the…Jeremiah 3:6-11Jeremiah 3:6-11 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleThe 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…Jeremiah 3:6-10Jeremiah 3:6-10 · The Pulpit CommentaryAn old and sad but very true story. I. GOD LOOKING FOR FRUIT BUT NONE FORTHCOMING. 1. The fruit God looked for was Judah's repentance (cf. the history of the times to which Jeremiah refers). Idolatry was rampant in…