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.
Contrary to all precedent in the case of adultery Yahweh offers a return to Judah, the spiritual adulteress (Jeremiah 3:1-5). A new portion of the book begins at Jeremiah 3:6, and ends at the close of Jeremiah 6:1-30. Judah worse than Israel; yet both shall be restored in the last days (Jeremiah 3:6-25).
They say - rather, as Hebrew, 'saying' in agreement with "the Lord," Jer. 3:37 of last chapter (Maurer). Or it is equivalent to, 'Suppose this case.' Some copyist may have omitted "The word of the Lord came to me," saying,
Shall he return unto her - will he take her back? It was unlawful do so (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).
Shall not - should not the land be polluted if this were done?
Yet return - (Jeremiah 3:22; Jeremiah 4:1; Zechariah 1:3. The ground of this gracious willingness, on God's part to receive them again, if they will "return" to Him, is that Yahweh "remembers His own everlasting covenant with" Israel even though she has broken the covenant; cf. Ezekiel 16:51; Ezekiel 16:58; Ezekiel 16:60. God has put away Israel by a temporary separation for her unfaithfulness, not by a permanent divorce; Isaiah 50:1, "Where is the bill of your, mother's divorcement, whom I have put away?" note).