Jeremiah 2:17

17 Could this not have come upon you peradventure because thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by 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 young lions roared upon him and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are deserted without inhabitant.

16 Even the sons of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.

17 Could this not have come upon you peradventure because thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?

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

19 Thine own wickedness shall chastise thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee; know therefore and see how evil and bitter it is, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God and that my fear is lacking in thee, saith the Lord GOD of the hosts.