Jeremiah 3:21
New International Version
A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the LORD their God.

New Living Translation
Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people. For they have chosen crooked paths and have forgotten the LORD their God.

English Standard Version
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.

Berean Standard Bible
A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.

King James Bible
A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

New King James Version
A voice was heard on the desolate heights, Weeping and supplications of the children of Israel. For they have perverted their way; They have forgotten the LORD their God.

New American Standard Bible
A voice is heard on the bare heights, The weeping, the pleading of the sons of Israel. Because they have perverted their way, They have forgotten the LORD their God.

NASB 1995
A voice is heard on the bare heights, The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; Because they have perverted their way, They have forgotten the LORD their God.

NASB 1977
A voice is heard on the bare heights, The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; Because they have perverted their way, They have forgotten the LORD their God.

Legacy Standard Bible
A voice is heard on the bare heights, The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; Because they have perverted their way, They have forgotten Yahweh their God.

Amplified Bible
A voice is heard on the barren heights, The weeping and pleading of the children of Israel, Because they have lost their way, They have [deliberately] forgotten the LORD their God.

Christian Standard Bible
A sound is heard on the barren heights: the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, for they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
A sound is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, for they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the LORD their God.

American Standard Version
A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Jehovah their God.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
A sound on the streets was heard, weeping and begging of the house of Israel, because they perverted their ways, and they forgot LORD JEHOVAH their God

Brenton Septuagint Translation
A voice from the lips was heard, even of weeping and supplication of the children of Israel: for they have dealt unrighteously in their ways, they have forgotten God their Holy One.

Contemporary English Version
Listen to the noise on the hilltops! It's the people of Israel, weeping and begging me to answer their prayers. They forgot about me and chose the wrong path.

Douay-Rheims Bible
A voice was heard in the highways, weeping and howling of the children of Israel: because they have made their way wicked, they have forgotten the Lord their God.

English Revised Version
A voice is heard upon the bare heights, the weeping and the supplications of the children of Israel; for that they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
The sound of crying is heard on the hills. It is the crying and the pleading of the people of Israel. They have become crooked and have forgotten the LORD their God.

Good News Translation
A noise is heard on the hilltops: it is the people of Israel crying and pleading because they have lived sinful lives and have forgotten the LORD their God.

International Standard Version
"A voice is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the children of Israel because they have perverted their way. They have forgotten the LORD their God."

JPS Tanakh 1917
Hark! upon the high hills is heard The suppliant weeping of the children of Israel; For that they have perverted their way, They have forgotten the LORD their God.

Literal Standard Version
A voice is heard on high places—weeping, | Supplications of the sons of Israel, | For they have made their way perverse, | They have forgotten their God YHWH.

Majority Standard Bible
A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God.

New American Bible
A cry is heard on the heights! the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children, Because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD, their God.

NET Bible
"A noise is heard on the hilltops. It is the sound of the people of Israel crying and pleading to their gods. Indeed they have followed sinful ways; they have forgotten to be true to the LORD their God.

New Revised Standard Version
A voice on the bare heights is heard, the plaintive weeping of Israel’s children, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God:

New Heart English Bible
A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the LORD their God.

Webster's Bible Translation
A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

World English Bible
A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and the petitions of the children of Israel; because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten Yahweh their God.

Young's Literal Translation
A voice on high places is heard -- weeping, Supplications of the sons of Israel, For they have made perverse their way, They have forgotten Jehovah their God.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Invitation to Repentance
20But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD. 21A voice is heard on the barren heights, the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy, because they have perverted their ways and forgotten the LORD their God. 22“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.…

Cross References
Isaiah 15:2
Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.

Isaiah 17:10
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots and set out cuttings from exotic vines--

Isaiah 57:11
Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?

Jeremiah 2:32
Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.

Jeremiah 3:2
"Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

Jeremiah 7:29
Cut off your hair and throw it away. Raise up a lamentation on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.'

Jeremiah 12:12
Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the earth to the other. No flesh has peace.


Treasury of Scripture

A voice was heard on the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.

a voice

Jeremiah 30:15-17
Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee…

Jeremiah 31:9,18-20
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn…

Jeremiah 50:4,5
In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and seek the LORD their God…

for they have

Numbers 22:32
And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:

Job 33:27
He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;

Proverbs 10:9
He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.

and they have

Jeremiah 2:32
Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

Isaiah 17:10
Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

Ezekiel 23:35
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast forgotten me, and cast me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

Jump to Previous
Bare Barren Children Cry Forgotten Hark Heard Heights High Hills Hilltops Israel Israel's Mind Open Perverse Perverted Petitions Places Pleading Prayers Sounding Supplications Twisted Voice Way Ways Weeping
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Bare Barren Children Cry Forgotten Hark Heard Heights High Hills Hilltops Israel Israel's Mind Open Perverse Perverted Petitions Places Pleading Prayers Sounding Supplications Twisted Voice Way Ways Weeping
Jeremiah 3
1. God's great mercy to Judah the polluted land
6. Judah is worse than Israel
12. The promises of the gospel to the penitent
20. Israel reproved, and called by God, makes a solemn confession of their sins














(21) A voice was heard.--Yes, the guilty wife was there, but she was also penitent. The "high places" which had been the scene of the guilt of the sons of Israel, where the cries of their orgiastic worship had been heard, now echoed with their weeping and supplication (or, more literally, the weeping of suppliant prayers), as they called to mind the hateful sins of the past.

Verse 21. - Another of those rapid transitions so common in emotional writing like Jeremiah's. The prophet cannot bear to dwell upon the backsliding of his people. He knows the elements of good which still survive, and by faith sees them developed, through the teaching of God's good providence, into a fruitful repentance. How graphic is the description! On the very high places (or rather, bare, treeless heights or downs, as ver. 2) where a licentious idolatry used to be practiced, a sound is heard (render so, not was heard) - the sound of the loud and audible weeping of an impulsive Eastern people (comp. Jeremiah 7:29). For they have; this evidently gives the reason of the bitter lamentation; render, because they have.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
A voice
ק֚וֹל (qō·wl)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6963: A voice, sound

is heard
נִשְׁמָ֔ע (niš·mā‘)
Verb - Nifal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 8085: To hear intelligently

on
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the barren heights,
שְׁפָיִ֣ים (šə·p̄ā·yîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 8205: Bareness, a smooth or bare height

the children
בְּנֵ֣י (bə·nê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

of Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

weeping
בְּכִ֥י (bə·ḵî)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 1065: A weeping, a dripping

and begging for mercy,
תַחֲנוּנֵ֖י (ṯa·ḥă·nū·nê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 8469: Supplication for favor

because
כִּ֤י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they have perverted
הֶעֱוּוּ֙ (he·‘ĕw·wū)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5753: To bend, twist

their ways
דַּרְכָּ֔ם (dar·kām)
Noun - common singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

[and] forgotten
שָׁכְח֖וּ (šā·ḵə·ḥū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 7911: To mislay, to be oblivious of, from want of memory, attention

the LORD
יְהֹוָ֥ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

their God.
אֱלֹהֵיהֶֽם׃ (’ĕ·lō·hê·hem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 3:21 A voice is heard on the bare (Jer.)
Jeremiah 3:20
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