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Chapter 3

If a man divorces his wife(A)
    and she leaves him
    and then becomes the wife of another,
Can she return to the first?[a]
    Would not this land be wholly defiled?
But you have played the prostitute with many lovers,
    and yet you would return to me!—oracle of the Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. 3:1 Can she return to the first?: i.e., her first husband. Here the Hebrew is emended in light of the Septuagint and Dt 24:1–4, which forbids a man to take back a woman once he has divorced her. The prophet uses this analogy to illustrate the presumption of Judah, the unfaithful wife, who assumes she can easily return to the Lord after worshiping other gods.

“If a man divorces(A) his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?(B)
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers(C)
    would you now return to me?”(D)
declares the Lord.

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