Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 3:8

"And I saw, when, for this very cause that backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill of divorcement, yet treacherous Judah her sister feared not; but she also went and played the harlot." — Jeremiah 3:8 (ASV)

And I saw, when for all the causes. —Better, perhaps (following a conjectural emendation, which gives a much better sense), And she saw that for all the causes. The technical fullness of the words suggests that they were actually the customary formula with which every writing of divorcement began, recapitulating the offences which were alleged by the husband against the wife. The actual repudiation consisted, of course, in the bitter exile and loss of national life, which Hosea (Hosea 2:1–13) had predicted using a similar metaphor. Judah had witnessed the sin and the punishment, and yet was following in the same path.