22 Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the Lord our God.
22 "Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding." "Yes, we will come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
22 "Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God.
22 "Come back, wandering children! I can heal your wanderlust!" "We're here! We've come back to you. You're our own true God!
22 "Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings." "Indeed we do come to You, For You are the Lord our God.
22 "My wayward children," says the Lord, "come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts." "Yes, we're coming," the people reply, "for you are the Lord our God.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 3:22
Commentary on Jeremiah 3:21-25
(Read Jeremiah 3:21-25)
Sin is turning aside to crooked ways. And forgetting the Lord our God is at the bottom of all sin. By sin we bring ourselves into trouble. The promise to those that return is, God will heal their backslidings, by his pardoning mercy, his quieting peace, and his renewing grace. They come devoting themselves to God. They come disclaiming all expectations of relief and succour from any but the Lord. Therefore they come depending upon him only. He is the Lord, and he only can save. It points out the great salvation from sin Jesus Christ wrought out for us. They come justifying God in their troubles, and judging themselves for their sins. True penitents learn to call sin shame, even the sin they have been most pleased with. True penitents learn to call sin death and ruin, and to charge upon it all they suffer. While men harden themselves in sin, contempt and misery are their portion: for he that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but he that confesseth and forsaketh them, shall find mercy.