Jeremiah 2:17

17 1Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when 2he led you in the way?

Jeremiah 2:17 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:17

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.

Jeremiah 2:17 In-Context

15 The lions have roared against him; they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
16 Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?
18 And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the LORD your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

Cross References 2

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.