Jeremiah 2:7

7 And I brought you to the land of the orchard, to eat its fruit, and its good things. But you entered and defiled my land, and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.

Jeremiah 2:7 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:7

And I brought you into a plentiful country
"Into the land of Carmel", as in the Hebrew text; that is,

``into the land of Israel, which was planted as Carmel,''

as the Targum paraphrases it; with wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olives; a land flowing with milk and honey, ( Deuteronomy 8:8 ) , so Ben Melech: to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof;
of vineyards and oliveyards, which they had not planted, and for which they had never laboured, ( Joshua 24:13 ) : but when ye entered ye defiled my land;
which the Lord had chosen above all lands, where he would have a temple built for his worship, and where he would cause his Shechinah or glorious Majesty to dwell; but this they defiled by their sins and transgressions, and particularly by their idolatry, as follows: that made mine heritage an abomination;
by devoting it to the worship of idols, as the Targum paraphrases it.

Jeremiah 2:7 In-Context

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?'

7 And I brought you to the land of the orchard, to eat its fruit, and its good things. But you entered and defiled my land, and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.

8 The priests did not say, 'Where [is] Yahweh?' and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have {rebelled against me}, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after [things which] do not profit.

9 {Therefore} I again bring a lawsuit against you," {declares} Yahweh, "and with {your children} I bring a lawsuit.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "good thing"
• [b]. Or "abomination"