Jeremiah 3:2

2 Lift thine eyes to the high places, and see, Where hast thou not been lain with? On the ways thou hast sat for them, As an Arab in a wilderness, And thou defilest the land, By thy fornications, and by thy wickedness.

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 Saying, `Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah.

2 Lift thine eyes to the high places, and see, Where hast thou not been lain with? On the ways thou hast sat for them, As an Arab in a wilderness, And thou defilest the land, By thy fornications, and by thy wickedness.

3 And withheld are showers, and gathered rain hath not been. The forehead of a whorish woman thou hast, Thou hast refused to be ashamed.

4 Hast thou not henceforth called to Me, `My father, Thou [art] the leader of my youth?

5 Doth He keep to the age? watch for ever?' Lo, these things thou hast spoken, And thou dost the evil things, and prevailest.