3:19 我說:我怎樣將你安置在兒女之中,賜給你美地,就是萬國中肥美的產業。我又說:你們必稱我為父,也不再轉去不跟從我。
3:20 以色列家,你們向我行詭詐,真像妻子行詭詐離開她丈夫一樣。這是耶和華說的。
3:21 在淨光的高處聽見人聲,就是以色列人哭泣懇求之聲,乃因他們走彎曲之道,忘記耶和華─他們的上帝。
3:22 你們這背道的兒女啊,回來吧!我要醫治你們背道的病。看哪,我們來到你這裡,因你是耶和華─我們的上帝。
3:23 仰望從小山或從大山的喧嚷中得幫助,真是枉然的。以色列得救,誠然在乎耶和華─我們的上帝。
3:24 從我們幼年以來,那可恥的偶像將我們列祖所勞碌得來的羊群、牛群,和他們的兒女都吞吃了。
3:25 我們在羞恥中躺臥吧!願慚愧將我們遮蓋;因為從立國(原文是幼年)以來,我們和我們的列祖常常得罪耶和華─我們的上帝,沒有聽從耶和華─我們上帝的話。
19 "'I said,
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would call me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her
husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house
of Israel,
declares the Lord. '"
21 A voice on the bare heights is heard,
the
weeping and pleading of Israel's sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 "Return, O faithless sons;
I
will heal your faithlessness."
"Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly the hills are a delusion,
the orgies on the mountains.
Truly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 "But from our youth the shameful
thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our
dishonor cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our
fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of
the Lord our God."
************
耶利米先知再一次向當時的猶大百姓宣告,猶大國會走到存亡之際,國家必為不保的原因,是他們和他們的祖先崇拜偶像的緣故!但是他們仍然在邱壇上敬拜偶像,不歸向耶和華,這是枉然的!
我們今日的教會讀到這樣的經文,或許說我們沒有敬拜偶像或別神,不像當時的猶大人一般!實際上我們雖然不敬拜有形的偶像,卻敬拜無形的偶像,我們追求上帝意外的事物,我沒追求名聲、權利、人數、金錢、…等等!
所以,我們當從這些出來,單單敬拜我們的主,單單討主的喜悅,不要討人的喜悅,做一切的事情是為榮耀主而行!如此,才可以成為蒙福的人!