Jeremiah 2:13-23

13 for my people have committed two evils: ¹they have forsaken ²me, the fountain of ³living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.

14 ⁴“Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant? Why then has he become a prey?

15 ⁵The lions have roared against him; they have roared loudly. They have made his land a waste; his cities are in ruins, ⁶without inhabitant.

16 Moreover, the men of ⁷Memphis and ⁸Tahpanhes ⁹have shaved^[a] the crown of your head.

17 ¹⁰Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God, when ¹¹he led you in the way?

18 ¹²And now what do you gain by going to Egypt to drink the waters of ¹³the Nile? ¹⁴Or what do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of ¹⁵the Euphrates? ^[b]

19 ¹⁶Your evil will chastise you, and ¹⁷your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and ¹⁸bitter for ¹⁹you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.

20 “For long ago I ²⁰broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, ²¹‘I will not serve. ’Yes, ²²on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down ²³like a whore.

21 ²⁴Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. ²⁵How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

22 Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, ²⁶the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God.

23 ²⁷How can you say, ‘I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way ²⁸in the valley; know what you have done—a restless young camel running here and there,

Jeremiah 2:13-23 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 2

This chapter contains the prophet's message from the Lord to the people of the Jews; in which they are reminded of their former favours, in order to aggravate their sins and transgressions they were chargeable with; to show their ingratitude and unkindness, and to bring them to a conviction and acknowledgment of their iniquities, without which punishment would be inflicted on them. The preface to this message is in Jer 2:1,2, and the discourse begins with an account of their former state and condition when they came out of Egypt; what kindness was shown them by the Lord, and what was returned to him by them; what they were to him, and how much regarded by him, Jer 2:2,3 and so far were they from being injured by him, that might cause them to depart from him, which they are desired to give attention to, that they were followed with various instances of goodness, which are particularly enumerated; and yet no notice was taken of them, neither by people, priests, pastors, and prophets, who were guilty of the grossest ignorance and wickedness, Jer 2:4-8, wherefore the Lord determines to plead with them and theirs; and charges them with such idolatry as was not to be found among the Gentiles, Jer 1:9-11 the heavens are called upon to be astonished at it; and the reason given for it, the ingratitude and folly of this people, Jer 2:12,13 in order to reclaim them, the Lord by the prophet proceeds to observe to them the corrections and chastisement they had already endured, being brought into bondage, their land wasted, cities burnt, and their glory taken from them; all which were owing to their revoltings and backslidings, and by which they might see what an evil and bitter thing sin is in its effects, Jer 2:14-19 and again reminds them of former favours; how that he loosed them from their yoke and bonds, when they promised to transgress no more, and yet did more and more; how he had raised them from a right seed, and planted them a noble vine, and yet they were sadly degenerated, and were guilty of such crimes as were not to be removed by anything done by them, Jer 2:20-22, and notwithstanding all this, they had the impudence to deny that they were tainted with idolatry, when they had been so guilty of it in the valley of Hinnom, and elsewhere; and were comparable to the lustful dromedary and wild ass, and so fond of strange gods, that they thirsted after them, and were resolved to follow them, Jer 2:23-25 and yet the time would come when all ranks of men among them would be ashamed of their worship of stocks and stones, and in the time of their trouble call upon the Lord to save them, when they would be sent to their gods, who were as numerous as their cities, Jer 2:26-28 wherefore it was in vain to plead their innocence, when they were all so guilty, and had received correction without amendment, and had even slain the prophets of the Lord, Jer 2:29,30 and then the Lord again upbraids them with their ingratitude to him, who had been so good and kind to them; with their forgetfulness of him, illustrated by a maid's not forgetting her ornaments, and a bride her attire; with their artful methods to entice others to idolatry, and with their shedding of innocent blood; and yet, after all this, they asserted their innocence, and affirmed they had never sinned, Jer 2:31-35, for all which sentence is pronounced against them, and punishment is threatened them, Jer 2:36,37.

Cross References

• 1. 2:13 ch. 17:13
• 2. 2:13 Ps. 36:9
• 3. 2:13 John 4:10
• 4. 2:14 [Ex. 4:22]
• 5. 2:15 ch. 4:7; Isa. 5:29
• 6. 2:15 ch. 9:11; 46:19
• 7. 2:16 ch. 44:1; 46:14; Ezek. 30:16
• 8. 2:16 ch. 43:7-9
• 9. 2:16 [Deut. 33:20]
• 10. 2:17 ch. 4:18
• 11. 2:17 ver. 6
• 12. 2:18 ver. 36; Isa. 30:1, 2; 31:1
• 13. 2:18 Isa. 23:3
• 14. 2:18 [Hos. 7:11]
• 15. 2:18 Gen. 31:21; Isa. 7:20; 8:7
• 16. 2:19 Isa. 3:9; Hos. 5:5
• 17. 2:19 ch. 3:22; 5:6; 14:7
• 18. 2:19 ch. 4:18
• 19. 2:19 ver. 13, 17
• 20. 2:20 ch. 5:5; 30:8
• 21. 2:20 ver. 31
• 22. 2:20 ch. 3:2; 17:2
• 23. 2:20 ch. 3:1; Isa. 1:21
• 24. 2:21 Ex. 15:17; Ps. 44:2; 80:8; Isa. 5:2
• 25. 2:21 Isa. 5:4; [Deut. 32:32]
• 26. 2:22 [ch. 17:1]
• 27. 2:23 ver. 35
• 28. 2:23 ch. 7:31, 32; 19:2, 6

Footnotes

• [a] 2:16 Hebrew 'grazed'
• [b] 2:18 Hebrew 'the River'