17 "Haven't you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way?
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The way - Either, the journey through the wilderness, or the way of holiness.
Hast thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he (b) led thee by the way?
(b) Showing that God would have still led them correctly, if they would have followed him.
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself,.... All this desolation and destruction, both from the Egyptians and the Babylonians; their sin was the cause of it, their idolatry and forsaking the Lord their God, as follows: and so the Targum,
"is not this vengeance taken upon thee?''
that is, by the Lord, for their sins and transgressions; he suffered these nations to make them desolate on that account: to which agrees the Septuagint version, "hath not he done these things unto thee?" for what the Egyptians and Babylonians did were done by the will of the Lord, who suffered them for their correction: and the Arabic version renders it, "have not I done these things unto thee?" and the Syriac as a prophecy, as indeed so is the whole, "lo, so it shall be done to thee"; as is predicted in the foregoing verses, and that for the following reason:
in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God; as in Jeremiah 2:13; see Gill on Jeremiah 2:13, that is, as the Targum interprets it, the worship of the Lord thy God, his service, his statutes, and his ordinances; and followed after idols, and the worship of them; which is aggravated by the circumstance of time in which this was done:
when he led thee by the way? who showed thee the right way, and thou walkedst not in it, as the Targum; the way in which they should have gone, the way of their duty, and his commandments; and which would have been pleasant and profitable to them, and secured them from ruin and destruction.
Literally, "Has not thy forsaking the Lord . . . procured this (calamity) to thee?" So the Septuagint: the Masoretic accents make "this" the subject of the verb, leaving the object to be understood. "Has not this procured (it, that is, the impending calamity) unto thee, that hast forsaken?" &c. (Jeremiah 4:18).
led-- (Deuteronomy 32:10).
the way--The article expresses the right way, the way of the Lord: namely, the moral training which they enjoyed in the Mosaic covenant.
When - By the conduct of providence in the wilderness, keeping thee from all dangers.
*More commentary available at chapter level.