John Gill Commentary Jeremiah 3:1

"They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man`s, will he return unto her again? will not that land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 3:1 (ASV)

They say, if a man put away his wife
Or, "saying"^F23; wherefore some connect those words with the last verse of the preceding chapter, as if they were a continuation of what the Lord had been there saying, that he would reject their confidences; so Kimchi; but they seem rather to begin a new section, or a paragraph, with what were commonly said among men, or in the law, and as the sense of that; that if a man divorced his wife upon any occasion, and she go from him ;
departs from his house, and is separated from bed and board with him: and become another man's ,
be married to another, as she might according to the law: shall he return unto her again ?
take her to be his wife again; her latter husband not liking her, or being dead? no, he will not; he might not according to the law in (Deuteronomy 24:4) and if there was no law respecting this, it can hardly be thought that he would, it being so contrary to nature, and to the order of civil society:

shall not that land be greatly polluted ?
either Judea, or any other, where such usages should obtain; for this, according to the law, was causing the land to sin, filling it with it, and making it liable to punishment for it; this being an abomination before the Lord. The Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions, render it, "shall not that woman be defiled?" she is so by the latter husband; and that is a reason why she is not to be received by the former again, (Deuteronomy 24:4) :

but you have played the harlot with many lovers ;
or served many idols; the number of their gods having been according to the number of their cities, (Jeremiah 2:28) : yet return again to me, says the Lord ;
by repentance, and doing their first works, worshipping and serving him as formerly; so the Targum,

``return now from this time to my worship, says the Lord.'' The Vulgate Latin version adds, "and I will receive you"; this is an instance of great grace in the Lord, and which is not to be found among men.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F23: (rwmal) "dicendo", Montanus, Vatablus, Janius & Tremellius