Jeremiah 3:20 - Prayer Tents



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Jeremiah 3
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Your Sex-and-Religion Obsessions

3GOD's Message came to me as follows: "If a man's wife walks out on him And marries another man, can he take her back as if nothing had happened? Wouldn't that raise a huge stink in the land? And isn't that what you've done— 'whored' your way with god after god? And now you want to come back as if nothing had happened." GOD's Decree.H559H376H7971H802H1980H312H376H7725H776H2610H2610H2181H7227H7453H7725H5002H3068 2"Look around at the hills. Where have you not had sex? You've camped out like hunters stalking deer. You've solicited many lover-gods, Like a streetwalking whore chasing after other gods.H5375H5869H8205H7200H375H7693H7901H1870H3427H6163H4057H2610H776H2184H7451 3And so the rain has stopped. No more rain from the skies! But it doesn't even faze you. Brazen as whores, you carry on as if you've done nothing wrong.H7241H4513H4456H2181H802H4696H3985H3637 4Then you have the nerve to call out, 'My father! You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?H7121H1H441H5271 5Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?' That's your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop."H5201H5769H8104H5331H1696H6213H7451H3201

Admit Your God-Defiance

6GOD spoke to me during the reign of King Josiah: "You have noticed, haven't you, how fickle Israel has visited every hill and grove of trees as a whore at large?H3068H559H3117H2977H4428H7200H4878H3478H6213H1980H1364H2022H8478H7488H6086H2181 7I assumed that after she had gotten it out of her system, she'd come back, but she didn't. Her flighty sister, Judah, saw what she did.H559H310H6213H7725H7725H901H269H3063H7200 8She also saw that because of fickle Israel's loose morals I threw her out, gave her her walking papers. But that didn't faze flighty sister Judah. She went out, big as you please, and took up a whore's life also.H7200H182H4878H3478H5003H7971H5414H5612H3748H898H269H3063H3372H3212H2181 9She took up cheap sex-and-religion as a sideline diversion, an indulgent recreation, and used anything and anyone, flouting sanity and sanctity alike, stinking up the country.H6963H2184H2610H776H5003H68H6086 10And not once in all this did flighty sister Judah even give me a nod, although she made a show of it from time to time." GOD's Decree.H901H269H3063H7725H3820H8267H5002H3068 11Then GOD told me, "Fickle Israel was a good sight better than flighty Judah.H3068H559H4878H3478H6663H5315H898H3063 12Go and preach this message. Face north toward Israel and say: "'Turn back, fickle Israel. I'm not just hanging back to punish you. I'm committed in love to you. My anger doesn't seethe nonstop.H1980H7121H1697H6828H559H7725H4878H3478H5002H3068H6440H5307H2623H5002H3068H5201H5769 13Just admit your guilt. Admit your God-defiance. Admit to your promiscuous life with casual partners, pulling strangers into the sex-and-religion groves While turning a deaf ear to me.'" GOD's Decree.H3045H5771H6586H3068H430H6340H1870H2114H7488H6086H8085H6963H5002H3068 14"Come back, wandering children!" GOD's Decree. "I, yes I, am your true husband. I'll pick you out one by one— This one from the city, these two from the country— and bring you to Zion.H7725H7726H1121H5002H3068H1166H3947H259H5892H8147H4940H935H6726 15I'll give you good shepherd-rulers who rule my way, who rule you with intelligence and wisdom.H5414H7462H3820H7462H1844H7919 16"And this is what will happen: You will increase and prosper in the land. The time will come"—GOD's Decree!—"when no one will say any longer, 'Oh, for the good old days! Remember the Ark of the Covenant?' It won't even occur to anyone to say it—'the good old days.' The so-called good old days of the Ark are gone for good.H7235H6509H776H3117H5002H3068H559H727H1285H3068H5927H3820H2142H6485H6213 17"Jerusalem will be the new Ark—'GOD's Throne.' All the godless nations, no longer stuck in the ruts of their evil ways, will gather there to honor GOD.H6256H7121H3389H3678H3068H1471H6960H8034H3068H3389H3212H310H8307H7451H3820 18"At that time, the House of Judah will join up with the House of Israel. Holding hands, they'll leave the north country and come to the land I willed to your ancestors.H3117H1004H3063H3212H1004H3478H935H3162H776H6828H776H5157H1 19"I planned what I'd say if you returned to me: 'Good! I'll bring you back into the family. I'll give you choice land, land that the godless nations would die for.' And I imagined that you would say, 'Dear father!' and would never again go off and leave me.H559H7896H1121H5414H2532H776H6643H5159H6635H1471H559H7121H1H7725H310 20But no luck. Like a false-hearted woman walking out on her husband, you, the whole family of Israel, have proven false to me." GOD's Decree.H403H802H898H7453H898H1004H3478H5002H3068 21The sound of voices comes drifting out of the hills, the unhappy sound of Israel's crying, Israel lamenting the wasted years, never once giving her God a thought.H6963H8085H8205H1065H8469H1121H3478H5753H1870H7911H3068H430 22"Come back, wandering children! I can heal your wanderlust!" "We're here! We've come back to you. You're our own true GOD!H7725H7726H1121H7495H4878H857H3068H430 23All that popular religion was a cheap lie, duped crowds buying up the latest in gods. We're back! Back to our true GOD, the salvation of Israel.H403H8267H1389H1995H2022H403H3068H430H8668H3478 24The Fraud picked us clean, swindled us of what our ancestors bequeathed us, Gypped us out of our inheritance— God-blessed flocks and God-given children.H1322H398H3018H1H5271H6629H1241H1121H1323 25We made our bed and now lie in it, all tangled up in the dirty sheets of dishonor. All because we sinned against our GOD, we and our fathers and mothers. From the time we took our first steps, said our first words, we've been rebels, disobeying the voice of our GOD."H7901H1322H3639H3680H2398H3068H430H1H5271H3117H8085H6963H3068H430


The Message (MSG). All Scripture quotations are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. More details.
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