Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 3:5

"Will he retain [his anger] for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and hast done evil things, and hast had thy way." — Jeremiah 3:5 (ASV)

Will he reserve his anger for ever ... ?—These were questions that might well have been asked in the first burst of sorrowful, though superficial, repentance. The implied answer was negative: “No, He will not keep His anger to the end.” Yet, up to that point, facts contradicted that yearning hope. It should be noted that the word “anger” is not in the Hebrew. It is, however, rightly inserted, following the precedent of Nahum 1:2 and Psalms 103:9. The words indeed seem almost a quotation from the latter (Psalms 103:9), and Jeremiah 3:4-5 can probably be seen as cited from the penitential litanies the people had joined, which were too soon followed by a return to their old evils (Jeremiah 2:1–13).

Thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest. — That is, resolutely and obstinately. That moving appeal to the mercy and love of Jehovah was followed by no improvement, but by a return to evil. Here the first prophecy, as reproduced from memory, ends, and the next verse begins a separate discourse.