Jeremia 2:11

11 Ob die Heiden ihre Götter ändern, wiewohl sie doch nicht Götter sind! Und mein Volk hat doch seine Herrlichkeit verändert um einen unnützen Götzen.

Jeremia 2:11 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:11

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods?
&c.] Though they are not by nature gods which they worship, only nominal and fictitious deities, yet they did not change them for others; but when they once embraced the worship of them, continued therein; so did the Chittim, the inhabitants of the isles, who though they traded to distant countries, from place to place; and so the Kedarenes, who dwelt in tents, and fed cattle, and moved from one desert to another, and from one pasture to another, as Jarchi observes; yet they carried their gods with them, and did not exchange them for new ones where they came. The Jewish writers say ^F2, that the Kedarenes worshipped water, and the Chittim fire; and though they knew that water would quench fire, yet the latter would not change their gods. Kimchi and Abendana relate it just the reverse, and say the Kedarenes worshipped fire, and the Chittim water, which is most likely; and so it is said elsewhere ^F3. But my people have changed their glory;
the true God, who is glorious in himself, and whom they should have glorified, and have counted it their highest honour and glory that they knew him, and were the worshippers of him; yet they changed him, their glory, into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass, ( Psalms 106:20 ) , wherefore it is justly added, for that which doth not profit;
meaning Baal, and such like idols; see the note on ( Jeremiah 2:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 5. 2.
F3 Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 60. 3.

Jeremia 2:11 In-Context

9 Darum muß ich noch immer mit euch und mit euren Kindeskindern hadern, spricht der HERR.

10 Gehet hin in die Inseln Chittim und schauet, und sendet nach Kedar und merket mit Fleiß und schauet, ob's daselbst so zugeht!

11 Ob die Heiden ihre Götter ändern, wiewohl sie doch nicht Götter sind! Und mein Volk hat doch seine Herrlichkeit verändert um einen unnützen Götzen.

12 Sollte sich doch der Himmel davor entsetzen, erschrecken und sehr erbeben, spricht der HERR.

13 Denn mein Volk tut eine zwiefache Sünde: mich, die lebendige Quelle, verlassen sie und machen sich hier und da ausgehauenen Brunnen, die doch löcherig sind und kein Wasser geben.