Wilt thou not from this time cry {h} to me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?

(h) He shows that the wicked in their miseries will cry to God and use outward prayer as the godly do, but because they do not turn from their evil, they are not heard, Isa 58:3,4.

Wesley's Notes

3:4 My father - Wilt thou not as a child call upon me, whom thou hast thus greatly provoked. The guide - I have been brought up by thee.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. from this time-not referring, as Michaelis thinks, to the reformation begun the year before, that is, the twelfth of Josiah; it means-now at once, now at last.

me-contrasted with the "stock" whom they had heretofore called on as "father" (Jer 2:27; Lu 15:18).

thou art-rather, "thou wast."

guide of . youth-that is, husband (Jer 2:2; Pr 2:17; Ho 2:7, 15). Husband and father are the two most endearing of ties.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.