The Lord responds in Jeremiah 4:1–2 to the words of repentance in Jeremiah 3:22–25. His response begins in Jeremiah 4:1–2 with an explanation of what true repentance means. Three phrases beginning with the word if
describe what true repentance would look like for Israel.
The first phrase is If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return.
True repentance means return to the Lord and only to him. There can be no hesitation about who their lives, hearts and worship belong to. There is again a play on the root word shuv (turn
) that dominates Jeremiah 3:1–4:4. Israel and Judah’s failure had been a turning
away from the Lord to other gods, but now Jeremiah’s plea is for a genuine return
to the Lord himself.1
1 Israël, si tu reviens, si tu reviens à moi, dit l'Eternel, Si tu ôtes tes abominations de devant moi, Tu ne seras plus errant.