Bible Strands
Jeremiah 3:9
Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Jeremiah to expose Israel’s spiritual infidelity, noting that Judah observed Israel’s divorce but replicated the same sin. The prophet addresses the nation during a period of parallel covenant unfaithfulness.
The words — The Hebrew זְנוּתָהּ (ze.nu.Ta/h) means "her prostitution," and וַתִּנְאַף (va./tin.'Af) translates literally as "and she committed adultery." These terms anchor the verse’s explicit description of Israel’s actions.
The thread — The motif of idolatry using natural objects appears in Jeremiah 2:27 and Isaiah 57:6, while Jeremiah 3:2 similarly frames covenant violation as sexual immorality on high places. These passages trace the pattern of substituting created things for covenant faithfulness.
Why it lands — The text states that Israel’s indifference to her own sin defiled the land and drove her to stone and tree worship. It demands that a reader confront spiritual apathy directly rather than masking unfaithfulness with outward ritual.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 2:27 say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’
- Isaiah 57:6 Your portion is among the smooth stones of the valley; indeed, they are your lot. Even to them you have poured out a drink offering and offered a grain offering. Should I relent because of these?
- Jeremiah 3:2 “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
- Jeremiah 2:7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land and made My inheritance detestable.
- Jeremiah 10:8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
- Habakkuk 2:19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ or to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it give guidance? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet there is no breath in it at all.”
- Ezekiel 16:17 You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.
- Ezekiel 23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.
- Hosea 4:12 My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.