Jeremiah 3:2

2 Raise thine eyes into straight, and see, where thou art not cast down. Thou hast sat in ways, abiding them as a thief in wilderness, and thou hast defouled the earth in thy fornications and in thy malices. (Raise up thine eyes into the high places, and see, if there is any place where thou hast not laid down. Thou hast sat in ways, waiting for them like a thief in the wilderness, and thou hast defiled the earth with thy fornications and thy malices.)

Jeremiah 3:2 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 3:2

Lift up thine eyes unto the high places
Where idols were set and worshipped; either places naturally high, as hills and mountains, which were chosen for this service; or high places, artificially made and thrown up for this purpose; see ( 2 Kings 17:9 2 Kings 17:10 2 Kings 17:11 ) ( 21:3 ) ( 23:5 ) ( Jeremiah 2:20 ) , Jarchi interprets the word (Mypv) of "rivulets of water"; and so the Targum, where also idolatry was committed: and see where thou hast not been lien with;
see if there is a hill or mountain, or any high place, where thou hast not committed idolatry; the thing was so notorious, and the facts and instances so many, there was no denying it; every hill and mountain witnessed to their idolatry; to which agrees the Targum,

``see where thou hast not joined thyself to worship idols:''

in the ways hast thou sat for them; for the idolaters, waiting for them, to join with them in their idolatries; as harlots used to sit by the wayside to meet with their lovers, to be picked up by them, or to offer themselves to them as prostitutes, ( Genesis 38:14 Genesis 38:15 ) which shows that these people were not drawn into idolatry by the temptations and solicitations of others: but they put themselves in the way of it, and solicited it, and others to join with them in it: as the Arabian in the wilderness;
who dwelt in tents in the wilderness, and sat by the wayside to trade with those that passed by; or else lay in wait in desert and by places to rob all that passed by them; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it, in the ways thou didst sit, expecting them as a thief in the
wilderness;
the Arabians being noted for thieves and robbers. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it, as a crow, or raven, of the desert;
the same word signifying a "raven" and an "Arabian": see ( 1 Kings 17:4 ) : and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy
wickedness;
the land of Judea, where idolatry was so openly and frequently committed, which brought a load of guilt upon it, and exposed it to the wrath and judgments of God; so the Targum,

``thou hast made the land guilty with thine idols and with thy wickedness.''

Jeremiah 3:2 In-Context

1 It is said commonly, If a man forsaketh his wife, and she go away from him, and be wedded to another husband, whether he shall turn again [any] more to her? whether that woman shall not be defouled, and made unclean? (shall he return to her again? shall that woman not be defiled, and made unclean?) Forsooth thou hast done fornication with many lovers; nevertheless turn thou again to me, saith the Lord, and I shall receive thee.

2 Raise thine eyes into straight, and see, where thou art not cast down. Thou hast sat in ways, abiding them as a thief in wilderness, and thou hast defouled the earth in thy fornications and in thy malices. (Raise up thine eyes into the high places, and see, if there is any place where thou hast not laid down. Thou hast sat in ways, waiting for them like a thief in the wilderness, and thou hast defiled the earth with thy fornications and thy malices.)

3 Wherefore the drops of rains were forbidden, and no late rain was. The forehead of a woman whore is made to thee; thou wouldest not be ashamed. (And so the drops of rain were forbidden, and there was no late rain for thee. Thou haddest the forehead, or the face, of a whorewoman, but thou wouldest not be ashamed.)

4 Namely from this time forth call thou me, Thou art my father, the leader of my virginity. (Yet now thou sayest to me, Thou art my father, my guide in my younger years.)

5 (And,) Whether thou shalt be wroth without end, either shalt continue (to feel so) into the end? Lo! thou hast spoken, and hast done evils, and thou were mighty (in them). And for words of penance thou blasphemedest by words of pride; and thou filledest thine evil thought(s), and showedest thy strength against thy husband, (so) that thou mayest do that thing that thou treatedest by word.