1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 "Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. 3 Israel (was) holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him shall be held guilty. Evil shall come on them,"' says Yahweh." 4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 5 Thus says Yahweh, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 6 Neither did they say, 'Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived?' 7 I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8 The priests didn't say, 'Where is Yahweh?' and those who handle the law didn't know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. 9 "Therefore I will yet contend with you," says Yahweh, "and I will contend with your children's children. 10 For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing. 11 Has a nation changed (its) gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 "Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate," says Yahweh. 13 "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 14 Is Israel a servant? Is he a native-born (slave)? Why has he become a prey? 15 The young lions have roared at him, and yelled. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. 16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head. 17 "Haven't you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way? 18 Now what have you to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? Or what have you to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River? 19 "Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies. 20 "For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, 'I will not serve;' for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute. 21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? 22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord Yahweh. 23 "How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. (You are) a swift dromedary traversing her ways; 24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire. When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. 25 "Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.' 26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets; 27 who tell wood, 'You are my father;' and a stone, 'You have brought me out:' for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise, and save us.' 28 "But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Judah. 29 "Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me," says Yahweh. 30 "I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 31 Generation, consider the word of Yahweh. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, 'We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?' 32 "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. 33 How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have taught even the wicked women your ways. 34 Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts. You did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things. 35 "Yet you said, 'I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.' "Behold, I will judge you, because you say, 'I have not sinned.' 36 Why do you go about so much to change your way? You will be ashamed of Egypt also, as you were ashamed of Assyria. 37 From there also you shall go forth, with your hands on your head; for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.
In the prophecies contained in Jeremiah. 2-6, we have, probably, the records of Jeremiah's earlier ministrations during the comparatively uneventful years of Josiah's reign. The great object of the prophet's mission was to urge upon the people the necessity of making use of that final opportunity of repentance then given them. If personal amendment followed upon the king's reforms Judah might yet be saved. We have then in these chapters such portions of Jeremiah's earlier teaching, published during Josiah's reign, as were deemed fit also for the Church's use in all time.
The prophecy Jeremiah. 2:1-3:5 consists of three parts, of which the first Jeremiah 2:1-13 contains an appeal from God to all Israel, i. e., the whole twelve tribes, proving to them His past love, and that their desertion of Him was without ground or reason. In the second Jeremiah 2:14-28 the prophet shows that Israel's calamities were entirely the result of her apostasy. In the last Jeremiah. 2:29-3:5 we see Judah imitating Samaria's sin, and hardening itself against correction.
God expresses his continued regard for his people, long since chosen, Jeremiah 2:1-3. He then expostulates with them on their ungrateful and worse than heathen return to his regard, Jeremiah 2:4-11; at which even the inanimate creation must be astonished, Jeremiah 2:12, Jeremiah 2:13. After this their guilt is declared to be the sole cause of the calamities which their enemies had power to inflict on them, Jeremiah 2:14-17. They are upbraided for their alliances with idolatrous countries, Jeremiah 2:18, Jeremiah 2:19; and for their strong propensity to idolatry, notwithstanding all the care and tender mercy of God, Jeremiah 2:20-29. Even the chastenings of the Almighty have produced in this people no repentance, Jeremiah 2:30. The chapter concludes with compassionately remonstrating against their folly and ingratitude in revolting so deeply from God, and with warning them of the fearful consequences, Jeremiah 2:31, Jeremiah 2:37.
INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 2
This chapter contains the prophet's message from the Lord to the people of the Jews; in which they are reminded of their former favours, in order to aggravate their sins and transgressions they were chargeable with; to show their ingratitude and unkindness, and to bring them to a conviction and acknowledgment of their iniquities, without which punishment would be inflicted on them. The preface to this message is in Jeremiah 2:1, and the discourse begins with an account of their former state and condition when they came out of Egypt; what kindness was shown them by the Lord, and what was returned to him by them; what they were to him, and how much regarded by him, Jeremiah 2:2 and so far were they from being injured by him, that might cause them to depart from him, which they are desired to give attention to, that they were followed with various instances of goodness, which are particularly enumerated; and yet no notice was taken of them, neither by people, priests, pastors, and prophets, who were guilty of the grossest ignorance and wickedness, Jeremiah 2:4, wherefore the Lord determines to plead with them and theirs; and charges them with such idolatry as was not to be found among the Gentiles, Jeremiah 1:9 the heavens are called upon to be astonished at it; and the reason given for it, the ingratitude and folly of this people, Jeremiah 2:12 in order to reclaim them, the Lord by the prophet proceeds to observe to them the corrections and chastisement they had already endured, being brought into bondage, their land wasted, cities burnt, and their glory taken from them; all which were owing to their revoltings and backslidings, and by which they might see what an evil and bitter thing sin is in its effects, Jeremiah 2:14 and again reminds them of former favours; how that he loosed them from their yoke and bonds, when they promised to transgress no more, and yet did more and more; how he had raised them from a right seed, and planted them a noble vine, and yet they were sadly degenerated, and were guilty of such crimes as were not to be removed by anything done by them, Jeremiah 2:20, and notwithstanding all this, they had the impudence to deny that they were tainted with idolatry, when they had been so guilty of it in the valley of Hinnom, and elsewhere; and were comparable to the lustful dromedary and wild ass, and so fond of strange gods, that they thirsted after them, and were resolved to follow them, Jeremiah 2:23 and yet the time would come when all ranks of men among them would be ashamed of their worship of stocks and stones, and in the time of their trouble call upon the Lord to save them, when they would be sent to their gods, who were as numerous as their cities, Jeremiah 2:26 wherefore it was in vain to plead their innocence, when they were all so guilty, and had received correction without amendment, and had even slain the prophets of the Lord, Jeremiah 2:29 and then the Lord again upbraids them with their ingratitude to him, who had been so good and kind to them; with their forgetfulness of him, illustrated by a maid's not forgetting her ornaments, and a bride her attire; with their artful methods to entice others to idolatry, and with their shedding of innocent blood; and yet, after all this, they asserted their innocence, and affirmed they had never sinned, Jeremiah 2:31, for all which sentence is pronounced against them, and punishment is threatened them, Jeremiah 2:36.
(Jeremiah 2:1-8) God expostulates with his people.
(Jeremiah 2:9-13) Their revolt beyond example.
(Jeremiah 2:14-19) Guilt the cause of sufferings.
(Jeremiah 2:20-28) The sins of Judah.
(Jeremiah 2:29-37) Their false confidence.
I. General Admonitions and Reproofs Belonging to the Time of Josiah - Jeremiah 2-22
If we compare the six longer discourses in these chapters with the sayings and prophecies gathered together in the other portions of the book, we observe between them this distinction in form and matter, that the former are more general in their character than the latter. Considered as to their form, these last prophecies have, with few exceptions, headings in which we are told both the date of their composition and the circumstances under which they were uttered; while in the headings of these six discourses, if we except the somewhat indefinite notice, "in the days of Josiah" (Jeremiah 3:6), we find nowhere mentioned either their date or the circumstances which led to their composition. Again, both the shorter sayings and the lengthier prophecies between Jeremiah 21:1-14 and the end of the book are unmistakeably to be looked upon as prophetic addresses, separately rounded off; but the discourses of our first part give us throughout the impression that they are not discourses delivered before the people, but treatises compiled in writing from the oral addresses of the prophet. As to their matter, too, we cannot fail to notice the difference that, whereas from Jeremiah 21:1-14 onwards the king of Babylon is named as the executor of judgment upon Judah and the nations, in the discourses of Jeremiah 2-20 the enemies who are to execute judgment are nowhere defined, but are only generally described as a powerful and terrible nation coming from the north. And so, in rebuking the idolatry and the prevailing sins of the people, no reference is made to special contemporary events; but there are introduced to a great extent lengthy general animadversions on their moral degeneracy, and reflections on the vanity if idolatry and the nature of true wisdom. From these facts we infer the probable conclusion that these discourses are but comprehensive summaries of the prophet's labours in the days of Josiah. The probability becomes certainty when we perceive that the matters treated in these discourses are arranged according to their subjects. The first discourse (Jeremiah 2:1-3:5) gives, so to speak, the programme of the subjects of all the following discourses: that disloyal defection to idolatry, with which Israel has from of old requited the Lord for His love and faithfulness, brings with it sore chastening judgments. In the second discourse (Jeremiah 3:6-6:30) faithless Judah is shown, in the fall of the ten tribes, what awaits itself in case of stiff-necked persistence in idolatry. In the third (Jeremiah 7-10) is torn from it the support of a vain confidence in the possession of the temple and in the offering of the sacrifices commanded by the law. In the fourth (Jeremiah 11-13) its sins are characterized as a breach of the covenant; and rejection by the Lord is declared to be its punishment. In the fifth (Jeremiah 14-17) the hope is destroyed that the threatened chastisement can be turned aside by intercession. Finally, in the sixth (Jeremiah 18-20) the judgment of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the kingdom of Judah is exhibited in symbolical acts. In this arrangement and distribution of what the prophet had to announce to the people in his endeavours to save them, if possible, from destruction, we can recognise a progression from general admonitions and threatenings to more and more definite announcement of coming judgments; and when, on the other hand, we see growing greater and bitterer the prophet's complaints against the hatreds and persecutions he has to endure (cf. Jeremiah 12:1-6; Jeremiah 15:10-11, Jeremiah 15:15-21; Jeremiah 17:14-18; Jeremiah 18:18-23, Jeremiah 18:20), we can gather that the expectation of the people's being saved from impending destruction was growing less and less, that their obduracy was increasing, and that judgment must inevitably come upon them. These complaints of the prophet cease with Jeremiah 20, though later he had much fiercer hatred to endure.
None of these discourses contains any allusions to events that occurred after Josiah's death, or stand in any relation to such events. Hence we believe we are safe in taking them for a digest of the quintessence of Jeremiah's oral preaching in the days of Josiah, and this arranged with reference to the subject-matter. It was by this preaching that Jeremiah sought to give a firm footing to the king's reformatory efforts to restore and inspire new life into the public worship, and to develope the external return to the legal temple worship into an inward conversion to the living God. And it was thus he sought, while the destruction of the kingdom was impending, to save all that would let themselves be saved; knowing as he did that God, in virtue of His unchangeable covenant faithfulness, would sharply chastise His faithless people for its obstinate apostasy from Him, but had not determined to make an utter end of it.
The Love and Faithfulness of the Lord, and Israel's Disloyalty and Idolatry - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
The Lord has loved Israel sincerely (Jeremiah 2:2-3), but Israel has fallen from the Lord its God and followed after imaginary gods (Jeremiah 2:4-8); therefore He will yet further punish it for this unparalleled sin (Jeremiah 2:9-19). From of old Israel has been renegade, and has by its idolatry contracted fearful guilt, being led not even by afflictions to return to the Lord (Jeremiah 2:20-30); therefore must the Lord chastise (Jeremiah 2:31-37), because they will not repent (Jeremiah 3:1-5). This discourse is of a quite general character; it only sketches the main thoughts which are extended in the following discourses and prophecies concerning Judah. So that by most critics it is held to be the discourse by which Jeremiah inaugurated his ministry; for, as Hitzig puts it, "in its finished completeness it gives the impression of a first-uttered outpouring of the heart, in which are set forth, without restraint, Jahveh's list of grievances against Israel, which has long been running up." It unquestionably contains the chief of the thoughts uttered by the prophet at the beginning of his ministry.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.