4 Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
4 Have you not just called to me: 'My Father, my friend from my youth,
4 Have you not just now called to me, 'My father, you are the friend of my youth--
4 Then you have the nerve to call out, 'My father! You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?
4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, 'My father, You are the guide of my youth?
4 Yet you say to me, 'Father, you have been my guide since my youth.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 3:4
Commentary on Jeremiah 3:1-5
(Read Jeremiah 3:1-5)
In repentance, it is good to think upon the sins of which we have been guilty, and the places and companies where they have been committed. How gently the Lord had corrected them! In receiving penitents, he is God, and not man. Whatever thou hast said or done hitherto, wilt thou not from this time apply to me? Will not this grace of God overcome thee? Now pardon is proclaimed, wilt thou not take the benefit? They will hope to find in him the tender compassions of a Father towards a returning prodigal. They will come to him as the Guide of their youth: youth needs a guide. Repenting sinners may encourage themselves that God will not keep his anger to the end. All God's mercies, in every age, suggest encouragement; and what can be so desirable for the young, as to have the Lord for their Father, and the Guide of their youth? Let parents daily direct their children earnestly to seek this blessing.