“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backsliding. “Behold, we have come to you; for you are Yahweh our God.
- KJV Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.
- NKJV “Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings.” “Indeed we do come to You, For You are the Lord our God.
- NASB “Return, you faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to You; For You are the Lord our God.
- NLT “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.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joab and David's troops return from a raid to find that Abner has just left in peace. The text underscores Abner's safe-conduct, which Joab will violate.
Overview
David's men come back laden with plunder, but Joab was absent when Abner visited and left under David's protection. The narrative stresses three times that Abner had gone in peace, highlighting the safe-conduct David had granted. This careful framing makes clear that David bore no guilt for what Joab was about to do.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Hos 14:4I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.
- Hos 14:1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
- Zech 13:9This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
- Hos 6:1–2Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.
- Jer 30:17But I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they call you an outcast, Zion, for whom no one cares.”
- Hos 13:4Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me.
- Hos 3:5Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.
- Jer 31:18I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.
- Song 1:4Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.
- Hos 14:8O Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols? It is I who answer and watch over him. I am like a flourishing cypress; your fruit comes from Me.
- Jer 33:6Nevertheless, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal its people and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth.
- Isa 27:8By warfare and exile You contended with her and removed her with a fierce wind, as on the day the east wind blows.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 3:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.