Jeremiah 3:3

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.

Jeremiah 3:3 in Other Translations

3 Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed.

3 That’s why even the spring rains have failed. For you are a brazen prostitute and completely shameless.

3 And so the rain has stopped. No more rain from the skies! But it doesn't even faze you. Brazen as whores, you carry on as if you've done nothing wrong.

3 This is why the showers haven't come- why there has been no spring rain. You have the brazen look of a prostitute and refuse to be ashamed.

Jeremiah 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 3:3

Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been
no latter rain
There were two seasons of the year when rain in common fell upon the land of Israel, called the former and the latter rain, and both are designed here. The former by (Mybybr) , "showers", so called from the multitude of drops in them: these showers, or the former rain, used to fall in the month Marchesvan, which answers to part of our October; it was in autumn, at the fall of the year, at seedtime, when great quantity of rain usually fell, to prepare the earth for sowing, and watering the seed sown; whence that month was sometimes called Bul, as Kimchi observes, from "mabbul", a flood. The latter rain fell in Nisan, which answers to our March; it was in the spring, a little before harvest, which swelled the grain, made the skin the thinner, and the flower the finer. This is called (vwqlm) : now, because of the idolatry of these people, those rains were withheld from them, as they were in the times of Ahab, ( 1 Kings 17:1 ) , which brought a famine upon them; and was a manifest token of the divine displeasure, and what was threatened them in case they sinned against the Lord, ( Deuteronomy 28:23 Deuteronomy 28:24 ) : and thou hadst a whore's forehead;
was impudent and unconcerned, repented not of sin, or blushed for it, though such judgments were upon them; hence the Rabbins ^F24 say rains are not withheld but for impudence, according, to this Scripture: thou refusedst to be ashamed;
to be made ashamed by the admonitions of the prophets, or by the judgments of God; see ( Jeremiah 5:3 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F24 T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 7. 2.

Jeremiah 3:3 In-Context

1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?” declares the LORD.

2 “Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame.

4 Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth,

5 will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.”

Cross References

• 1. Leviticus 26:19; Jeremiah 5:25; Amos 4:7
• 2. S Deuteronomy 11:14; Jeremiah 14:4; Joel 1:10
• 3. Ezekiel 3:7; Ezekiel 16:30
• 4. Jeremiah 6:15; Jeremiah 8:12; Zephaniah 2:1; Zephaniah 3:5