Jeremiah 2:5

5 This is what the Lord says: "I was fair to your ancestors, so why did they turn away from me? Your ancestors worshiped useless idols and became useless themselves.

Jeremiah 2:5 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:5

Thus saith the Lord, what iniquity have your fathers found in
me
What injustice or injury has been done them? there is no unrighteousness in God, nor can any be done by him; or what unfaithfulness, or want of truth and integrity in performing promises, had they found in him? he never suffers his faithfulness to fail, or any of the good things he has promised. So the Targum,

``what falsehood have your fathers found in my word?''

none at all; God is a covenant keeping God: that they are gone far from me;
from my fear, as the Chaldee paraphrase; from the word and worship, and ways of God: and have walked after vanity;
after idols, the vanities of the Gentiles, ( Jeremiah 14:22 ) : and are become vain?
in their imaginations and in their actions, in their knowledge and in their practice, worshipping idols, as well as guilty of many other sins.

Jeremiah 2:5 In-Context

3 The people of Israel were holy to the Lord, like the first fruits from his harvest. Those who tried to hurt Israel were judged guilty. Disasters struck them,'" says the Lord.

4 Hear the word of the Lord, family of Jacob, all you family groups of Israel.

5 This is what the Lord says: "I was fair to your ancestors, so why did they turn away from me? Your ancestors worshiped useless idols and became useless themselves.

6 Your ancestors didn't say, 'Where is the Lord who brought us out of Egypt? He led us through the desert, through a dry and rocky land, through a dark and dangerous land. He led us where no one travels or lives.'

7 I brought you into a fertile land so you could eat its fruit and produce. But you came and made my land unclean; you made it a hateful place.