Jeremiah 2:25

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 after them will I go.

Jeremiah 2:25 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:25

Withhold thy foot from being unshod
That it may not be unshod, be naked and bare. The sense is, either, as some, do not take long journeys into foreign countries for help, as into Assyria and Egypt, whither they used to go barefoot; or wore out their shoes by their long journeys, and so returned without; or refrain from idolatry, as Jarchi interprets it, that thou mayest not go naked into captivity; or this is an euphemism, as others think, forbidding adulterous actions, showing the naked foot, the putting off of the shoes, in order to lie upon the bed, and prostitute herself to her lovers; and is to be understood of idolatry: and thy throat from thirst;
after wine, which excites lust; abstain from eager and burning lust after adulterous, that is, idolatrous practices; so the Targum,

``refrain thy feet from being joined with the people, and thy mouth from worshipping the idols of the people.''

The words are paraphrased in the Talmud ^F5 thus,

``withhold thyself from sinning, that thy foot may not become naked; (the gloss is, "when thou goest into captivity") refrain thy tongue from idle words, that thy throat may not thirst:''

this was said by the Lord, or by the prophets of the Lord sent unto them, to which the following is an answer: but thou saidst, there is no hope;
of ever being prevailed upon to relinquish those idolatrous practices, or of being received into the favour of God after such provocations: no; I will never refrain from them; I will not be persuaded to leave them: for I have loved strangers;
the strange gods of the nations: and after them will I go;
and worship them; so the Targum,

``I love to he joined to the people, and after the Worship of their idols will I go.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 77. 1.

Jeremiah 2:25 In-Context

23 How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba`alim? 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; in her occasion who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall 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 after them will I go.

26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Yisra'el ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their Kohanim, and their prophets;

27 who tell a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: 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.