Jeremiah 2:17

17 And why do you think all this has happened? Isn't it because you walked out on your God just as he was beginning to lead you in the right 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 fought over by snarling and roaring lions? There's nothing left of her but a few old bones, her towns trashed and deserted.
16 Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your skulls.
17 And why do you think all this has happened? Isn't it because you walked out on your God just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?
18 "And now, what do you think you'll get by going off to Egypt? Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water? Or what do you think you'll get by going off to Assyria? Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
19 Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that's what you'll get. You'll pay dearly for your disloyal ways. Take a long, hard look at what you've done and its bitter results. Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?" God's Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Addicted to Alien Gods
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.