Two sisters, Israel to the north and Judah to the south, are each characteristically tagged: “ever-turning” (backsliding; NIV “faithless”) Israel, and “wicked” (runaway; NIV “unfaithful”) Judah. In 722 BC Assyria captured Samaria and occupied Israel. In Jeremiah’s time Judah was still an independent nation, but the Assyrian garrison was only a few miles away. God argues that Judah is more evil than Israel. For Israel, distressed because of God’s punishment, there is an earnest plea to return to God. For Judah, there is a short but very stern warning (4:3–4). The passage is piled with wordplays on the word “turn,” which in its various forms occurs sixteen times. The messages date early in Jeremiah’s ministry, during Josiah’s reign, possibly between 625 and 620 BC.

Ever-turning Israel is a…