Israel More Righteous Than Judah (3:6-11):

3:6–11 We now have a prose oracle that is set during the reign of Josiah. Jeremiah 1:2 indicates that Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry began in Josiah’s thirteenth year (626 B.C.) Since Josiah’s reign came to a close with his death on the battlefield in 609 B.C., this oracle should be dated between these two dates. The oracles are not in chronological order so we cannot use this rare dating to fix the time of the surrounding oracles. Josiah was the first king to rule during Jeremiah’s ministry, and he was a good one (see Introduction). Jeremiah’s message here would have supported Josiah’s attempt to clean up the religious practices of his people.

Once again, we see sexual imagery used to condemn Judah. In this case, the previous example of the northern…