Jeremiah 2

The LORD's message came to me. He said:

1Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

Note"The LORD" in small capitals stands where the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, four consonants usually written YHWH. Jewish readers came to say "the Lord" aloud instead of pronouncing it, and English Bibles mark the substitution by using capitals.

2Go and call out so all Jerusalem can hear it. Say: This is what the LORD says. I remember how loyal you were when you were young, and how you loved me like a bride loves her husband. You followed me through the desert, through land where nothing was planted.

2Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

NoteProphets regularly describe the bond between the LORD and Israel as a marriage: the desert years after the escape from Egypt are the honeymoon, and worship of other gods is adultery. That figure of speech runs through this whole chapter. "A land that was not sown" means uncultivated country, nobody farms there, so there is no food but what is provided.

3Israel was set apart for the LORD, the first part of his harvest. Everyone who ate up that harvest was held guilty, and disaster came on them, says the LORD.

3Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

NoteUnder Israelite law the first portion of any harvest belonged to God and was handed over to the sanctuary. It was holy, meaning reserved and off-limits, and an outsider who ate it was guilty of theft from God and owed restitution. The picture is that nations who attacked Israel were treated like men caught eating the firstfruits.

4Listen to the LORD's message, family of Jacob, and all you clans of the family of Israel.

4Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

NoteJacob was renamed Israel; "house of Jacob" and "house of Israel" are the same people, the descendants of his twelve sons. "Families" here means clans, the subdivisions of a tribe.

5This is what the LORD says: What did your fathers find wrong with me, that they went so far away from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

5Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

NoteThe word behind "vanity" and "vain" is a Hebrew noun meaning a breath or a puff of vapor, something with no substance. It was a standard sneering term for other gods. The line turns on the repetition: they chased after emptiness and became empty themselves.

6They never asked, "Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt? Where is the one who led us through the desert, through a land of dry ground and pits, a land of drought and deep darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?"

6Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that 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 no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

Note"The shadow of death" translates one Hebrew word that most likely means simply deep or total darkness; the King James spelling reflects an old attempt to hear "death" inside it. The whole verse recites the standard summary of the escape from Egypt and the desert crossing.

7I brought you into a rich land so you could eat its fruit and its good things. But when you came in, you made my land filthy. You turned the land I gave you into something disgusting.

7And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.

Note"Mine heritage" is the land as property handed down: Israelite thinking treats Canaan as the LORD's own land, held by the people as tenants. "Abomination" is the vocabulary of ritual purity, something so unclean it must be kept away from anything holy.

8The priests did not ask, "Where is the LORD?" The men who handled the law did not know me. The rulers of the people turned against me. The prophets spoke in the name of Baal and followed things that are no help at all.

8The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

NoteThree professions are named. "They that handle the law" are the priests and scribes whose job was to teach and give rulings from the law of Moses. "Pastors" in 1611 English means shepherds, and in Hebrew idiom shepherds are kings and officials, not clergy. Baal, meaning "lord" or "master," was the Canaanite storm and fertility god, worshiped widely in Israel; prophesying "by Baal" means delivering oracles in his name.

9So I will bring my case against you again, says the LORD, and I will bring my case against your grandchildren too.

9Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.

Note"Plead" here is courtroom language, not begging. The Hebrew word covers bringing a lawsuit and pressing charges. Much of this chapter is shaped as a legal case brought by the LORD against Israel for breaking a treaty, complete with witnesses, accusations, and the defendant's denials.

10Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look. Send word to the desert tribes of Kedar in the east and study the matter carefully. See if anything like this has ever happened.

10For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.

NoteChittim (Kittim) is Cyprus, and by extension the coasts and islands to the far west; Kedar was a confederation of Arab tribes in the desert to the east. Naming both is a way of saying "look in every direction, from one end of the known world to the other."

11Has any nation ever traded away its gods, even though those gods are not gods at all? But my people have traded away their Glory for things that are no help at all.

11Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

NoteAncient peoples kept their ancestral gods permanently; changing gods was almost unheard of, which is why the question expects the answer "no." "Their glory" is a title for the LORD himself. Some ancient Jewish scribal notes record that the line originally read "my glory," softened out of reverence.

12Be shocked at this, you heavens. Shudder with horror; be completely appalled, says the LORD.

12Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

NoteIn treaty documents of this period the sky and the earth were listed as witnesses who would testify if the agreement was broken. Calling on the heavens here continues the courtroom framing of verse 9.

13My people have done two evil things. They have left me, the spring of fresh running water, and they have cut out their own water tanks, cracked tanks that cannot hold any water.

13For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

NoteA spring of "living water" means water that flows of itself, constantly renewed. A cistern is a pit cut into rock and sealed with plaster to catch and store rainwater; it holds only what is poured into it, and if the plaster cracks the water drains away. In a dry country the difference between the two was a matter of survival.

14Is Israel a slave? Was he born a slave in someone's house? Then why has he been robbed and carried off?

14Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?

NoteA slave born in the master's household was property for life and had no family outside to protect or ransom him; a free person who was robbed had kinsmen who would take up his cause. The question is: since Israel is in neither position, why has no one come to his defense?

15Young lions have roared at him and growled loudly. They have ruined his land. His cities are burned, with no one left living in them.

15The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant.

NoteLions are a standing image for invading armies. The reference is to the Assyrian campaigns that destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel and devastated the countryside of Judah in the century before Jeremiah.

16The men of Noph and Tahapanes in Egypt have shaved the top of your head as well.

16Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.

NoteNoph is Memphis, the old capital of Egypt; Tahapanes (Tahpanhes) was a fortress town on Egypt's north-eastern frontier, the first Egyptian city a traveler from Judah would reach. The Hebrew verb is uncertain: it can mean to shave the head, a mark of disgrace or of being made a slave, or to break or graze the skull.

17Have you not brought this on yourself by leaving the LORD your God while he was leading you along the way?

17Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?

18And now, what do you gain by heading off to Egypt to drink the water of the Nile? What do you gain by heading off to Assyria to drink the water of the Euphrates River?

18And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?

NoteSihor is a name for the Nile or one of its eastern branches; "the river" without further description always means the Euphrates. Drinking a country's water means depending on it, and specifically making an alliance with it. Judah's kings spent these decades switching allegiance between Egypt and the empires of Mesopotamia.

19Your own wrongdoing will punish you. Your own turning away will accuse you. Think it over and see how evil and bitter it is that you left the LORD your God, and that you have no fear of me, says the Lord GOD, the commander of heaven's armies.

19Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

Note"My fear" means reverence and awe of God, the ordinary word for religion as an attitude, not being frightened. "The LORD of hosts" means the LORD who commands armies, heavenly ones, and Israel's.

20Long ago I broke the wooden yoke off your neck and tore off the ropes that tied you, and you said, "I will not disobey." But on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a prostitute.

20For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

NoteA yoke is the wooden beam strapped across an ox's neck to harness it to a plow, and the bands are the ties that hold it on; breaking them is the image for setting a slave free. The King James "I will not transgress" and the modern "I will not serve" differ only over the vowels supplied to the Hebrew consonants, which the earliest manuscripts did not write down. Hilltops and large shady trees were the usual sites of local open-air shrines, and "playing the harlot" is the chapter's running figure for worshiping other gods, though some of these cults did also involve sexual rites.

21I planted you like a choice grapevine, grown from good, pure seed. How did you turn into a rotten, wild vine, foreign to me?

21Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

NoteThe word for "noble vine" names a particular prized variety of grape, grown from selected stock. Wild vines revert to sour, useless fruit, the standard disappointment of any vineyard owner.

22Even if you wash yourself with washing soda and use plenty of soap, the stain of your guilt is still there in front of me, says the Lord GOD.

22For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

Note"Nitre" is natron, a naturally occurring mineral soda used in the ancient world for washing, not the saltpetre the word later came to mean. The soap was lye made from plant ashes. Both are the strongest cleaners available, and neither works on this stain.

23How can you say, "I am not dirty; I have not run after the Baals"? Look at what you did in the valley; face up to what you have done. You are like a fast young camel running this way and that,

23How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

NoteBaalim is simply the plural of Baal: the many local versions of the god, each with its own shrine. "The valley" is most likely the Valley of Hinnom just outside Jerusalem, where children were burned as offerings (see verse 34). A dromedary is a one-humped camel; the picture is of a young female running in circles with no rider in control.

24like a wild donkey at home in the desert, sniffing the wind when she is in heat. Who can hold her back when she wants to mate? Males looking for her do not have to tire themselves out; they will find her in mating season.

24A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

NoteWild donkeys were proverbial for being untameable. During the mating season the female's scent draws males to her without any effort on their part, so the male donkeys "do not weary themselves": she comes to them.

25Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, "It is no use. I love foreign gods, and I am going after them."

25Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

NoteWorn-out shoes and a parched throat are the marks of someone who has walked a long way. The warning is against exhausting yourself running from shrine to shrine, or, in the political sense running through this chapter, trailing back and forth to foreign capitals. "Strangers" means foreigners, here the foreign gods.

26A thief is ashamed when he is caught. In the same way the family of Israel is ashamed, the people, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets.

26As 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,

Note"Princes" in 1611 English means officials of the royal court, not sons of the king. The list (king, court, priests, prophets) names the whole governing class of the nation.

27They say to a wooden post, "You are my father," and to a stone, "You gave birth to me." They have turned their backs to me and not their faces. But when trouble comes they say, "Get up and save us!"

27Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

NoteA "stock" is a tree trunk, here a carved wooden pole set up beside an altar, the standard symbol of the goddess Asherah; the stone is a standing pillar representing a male god. The Hebrew reverses what a hearer would expect, calling the wooden object (grammatically feminine) "father" and the stone (masculine) the one who gave birth, part of the mockery.

28But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them get up and save you when trouble comes, if they can. Judah, you have as many gods as you have cities.

28But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.

NoteEach town had its own local shrine and its own version of the god; the taunt is that Judah's gods have multiplied to the point of one per town, and not one of them can be found when needed.

29Why do you bring a case against me? All of you have rebelled against me, says the LORD.

29Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

30I punished your children, but it did no good; they refused to be corrected. Your own sword has eaten up your prophets like a lion tearing its prey.

30In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.

Note"Smitten" means struck, in the sense of a father's corrective beating. Killing a prophet who brought an unwelcome message was a real hazard, not a figure of speech; Jeremiah's own book records the prophet Uriah being hunted down and executed.

31You people of this time, pay attention to the LORD's message. Have I been a desert to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Then why do my people say, "We are free to go where we want; we will not come to you anymore"?

31O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "we are lords" occurs almost nowhere else and its meaning is disputed. It has been read as "we rule ourselves," "we roam free," and "we have broken loose"; all convey independence, but the exact image is uncertain.

32Can a young woman forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding sash? Yet my people have forgotten me for more days than anyone can count.

32Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

NoteA bride's jewelry and sash were often her own property, given at betrothal, and were the most valuable things she owned, the last items anyone would mislay. "Days without number" is an expression for a stretch of time too long to count.

33How skillfully you plan your way when you go looking for love! You have even taught your ways to women who do evil.

33Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

34The blood of poor, innocent people is also found on your clothes. I did not have to search in secret to find it; it was there in plain sight on all of them.

34Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.

Note"Skirts" means the loose hem of a robe, where evidence of a crime would show. The second half of the verse in Hebrew reads literally "not at breaking in I found them," which points to a rule in the law of Moses: a householder who killed a burglar tunnelling in at night bore no bloodguilt. The sense would then be that these victims were not caught in any crime, the killing was plain murder. The King James translators instead took the line to mean the blood was found openly rather than by searching. Both readings are defensible from the consonants of the text.

35Yet you say, "I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me." Look, I will bring you to trial, because you say, "I have not sinned."

35Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.

36Why do you wander around so much, always changing your ways? Egypt will let you down, just as Assyria let you down.

36Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

Note"Gaddest about" means running restlessly from one place to another. Judah's foreign policy in these years swung between the Mesopotamian empires and Egypt as each looked stronger. "Ashamed of" here means let down or disappointed by, being publicly proved to have trusted the wrong ally.

37You will come away from Egypt too, with your hands on your head in shame, because the LORD has rejected the ones you trust. They will bring you no success.

37Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.

NoteHands placed on the head was a recognized gesture of grief and humiliation, used by mourners and by prisoners being led away. "Thy confidences" means the powers you were relying on.