Lightness - Others render as in the margin.

Defiled - Rather, profaned. The land especially consecrated to Yahweh's service was treated by Judah as a common land.

The lightness of her whoredom - The grossness of her idolatry: worshipping objects the most degrading, with rites the most impure.

And it came to pass, through the lightness of her whoredom,.... Or the "swiftness" (b) of it; when it was once set on foot, it ran through the land presently one taking it from and following the example of another; or it became a light thing with her to commit idolatry; it was looked upon as a small thing, a trivial offence at most: so the Targum,

"it came to pass that her idols were light in her eyes;''

not lightly esteemed of, but it was a light thing to commit idolatry with them; interpreting the word as the Masora, which it follows: and to the same sense the Septuagint version, "her fornication was for nothing"; it stood for nothing, it was not reckoned as a sin: the Arabic version is, "her fornication was with nothing"; with an idol, which is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4, some choose to render it, "because of the voice or fame of her whoredom" (c), or idolatry; it sounded forth, and the fame, or rather infamy of it, went out through the whole land: wherefore it follows,

that she defiled the land; polluted it with sin, involved it in guilt, and exposed it to punishment:

and committed adultery with stones and with stocks; that is, with images made of stone and wood, which they served and worshipped as gods; and is the adultery or idolatry they are charged with, and by which the land was defiled. The Targum is,

"she erred or committed idolatry with the worshippers of stone and wood.''

This, by what follows, seems to be understood not of Judah, but of Israel.

(b) "a levitate", a "velocem esse", Calvin. (c) Heb. "propter vocem scortationis ejus, vel famosam scortationem", Piscator; "a voce scortationis ejus", Schmidt; "propter famam scortationis ejus", Cocceius; "prae famosa scortatione", Junius & Tremellius.

In Jeremiah 3:9 Judah's fornication with the false gods is further described. Here מקּל זנוּתהּ ereH is rather stumbling, since ob vocem scortationis cannot well be simply tantamount to ob famosam scortationem; for קול, voice, tone, sound, din, noise, is distinct from שׁם or שׁמע, fame, rumour. All ancient translators have taken קל from קלל, as being formed analogously to עז ,תּם ,חם; and a Masoretic note finds in the defective spelling קל an indication of the meaning levitas. Yet we occasionally find קול, vox, written defectively, e.g., Exodus 4:8; Genesis 27:22; Genesis 45:16. And the derivation from קלל gives no very suitable sense; neither lightness nor despisedness is a proper predicate for whoredom, by which the land is polluted; only shame or shameful would suit, as it is put by Ew. and Graf. But there is no evidence from the usage of the language that קל has the meaning of קלון. Yet more inadmissible is the conjecture of J. D. Mich., adopted by Hitz., that of reading מקּל gnidaer fo taht, stock, for מקּל, a stock being the object of her unchastity; in support of which, reference is unfairly made to Hosea 4:12. For there the matter in hand is rhabdomancy, with which the present passage has evidently nothing to do. The case standing thus, we adhere to the usual meaning of קל: for the noise or din of her whoredom, not, for her crying whoredom (de Wette). Jeremiah makes use of this epithet to point out the open riotous orgies of idolatry. תּחנף is neither used in the active signification of desecrating, nor is it to be pointed ותּחנף (Hiph.). On the last clause cf. Jeremiah 2:27.

And it came to pass through the {l} lightness of her harlotry, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with trees.

(l) The Hebrew word may either signify lightness and wantonness, or noise and brute.

lightness: or, fame

9. it-Some take this verse of Judah, to whom the end of Jer 3:8 refers. But Jer 3:10 puts Judah in contrast to Israel in this verse. "Yet for all this," referring to the sad example of Israel; if Jer 3:9 referred to Judah, "she" would have been written in Jer 3:10, not "Judah." Translate, "It (the putting away of Israel) had come to pass through . whoredom; and (that is, for) she (Israel) had defiled the land" &c. [Maurer]. English Version, however, may be explained to refer to Israel.

lightness-"infamy." [Ewald]. Maurer not so well takes it from the Hebrew root, "voice," "fame."

3:6-11 If we mark the crimes of those who break off from a religious profession, and the consequences, we see abundant reason to shun evil ways. It is dreadful to be proved more criminal than those who have actually perished in their sins; yet it will be small comfort in everlasting punishment, for them to know that others were viler than they.