Jeremiah 2:4

The Unfaithfulness of Israel’s Ancestors

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, [O] house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.

Jeremiah 2:4 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:4

Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the
families of the house of Israel.
] The Lord, by the prophet, having observed his great kindness to this people, what they were unto him, and what a regard he had for them, proceeds to upbraid them with their ingratitude, and requires an attention to what he was about to say; all are called upon, because, all were guilty. This respects the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and the several families in them. The ten tribes had been long carried captive.

Jeremiah 2:4 In-Context

2 "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh, "I remember [concerning] you the loyal love of your childhood, the love of your betrothal-time, your going after me in the desert, in [the] land not sown.

3 Israel [was] holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All [those who] ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them," {declares} Yahweh.'"

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, [O] house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.

5 Thus says Yahweh: "What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain?

6 And they did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land {that no one passes through}, and no human lives there?'

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "families"