Jeremiah 2:21-31

21 Forsooth I planted thee a chosen vinery, all true seed; how therefore art thou, an alien vinery, turned to me into a shrewd thing? (Yet I planted thee like a choice vine, all of you the best seed; and so how art thou turned into such a depraved thing, yea, a strange vine, to me?)

22 Though thou wash thee with fuller's clay (Even if thou shalt wash thyself with fuller's clay), and multipliest to thee the [cleansing] herb boreth, thou art (still) defouled in thy wickedness before me, saith the Lord God.

23 How sayest thou, I am not defouled, I went not after Baalim? (How sayest thou, I am not defiled, and I did not go after the Baalim?) See thy ways in the great valley, know thou what thou hast done; a swift runner ordaining his ways.

24 A wild ass accustomable in wilderness, drew the wind of his love in the desire of his soul; no man shall turn away it. All that seek it, shall not fail; they shall find it in the flux of unclean blood thereof. (Like a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, that drew up the scent of the lust that her soul desired; not one shall turn away from her. All that seek her, shall not fail to find her; they shall find her in the flowing of her unclean blood.)

25 Forbid thy foot from nakedness, and thy throat from thirst; and thou saidest, I despaired, (for) I shall not do (that); for I loved burningly alien gods, and I shall go after them (for I have burningly loved these strange, or these foreign, gods, and I shall go after them).

26 As a thief is shamed, when he is taken, so the house of Israel be shamed; they, and [the] kings of them, the princes, and priests, and the prophets of them, (Like a thief is shamed, when he is caught, so let the house of Israel be shamed; they, and their kings, and the princes, or the leaders, and the priests, and their prophets,)

27 that say to a tree, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast engendered me. They turned to me the back, and not the face; and in the time of their torment they shall say, Rise thou, and deliver us. (who say to a piece of wood, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast begat me. They turned their backs on me/They turned their backs to me, and not their faces; yet in the time of their torment they shall say, Rise thou up, and save us!)

28 Where be thy gods, which thou madest to thee? Rise they, and deliver thee in the time of thy torment; for after the number of thy cities were thy gods, thou Judah. (And then I shall say to them, Where be thy gods, which thou madest for thyselves? Let them rise up, and save thee in the time of thy torment; for the number of thy gods, O Judah, were as many as the number of thy cities.)

29 What, will ye strive with me in doom? All ye have forsaken me, saith the Lord. (What, will ye contend, or will ye argue, with me in judgement? All of ye have deserted me, saith the Lord.)

30 In vain I smote your sons, they received not chastising; your sword devoured your prophets, your generation is destroyed as a lion. (In vain I struck down your sons and daughters, for they would not receive their discipline, or their correction; your own sword devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.)

31 See ye the word of the Lord, whether I am made a wilderness to Israel, either a land late bringing forth fruit? Why therefore said my people, We have gone away, we shall no more come to thee? (See ye the word of the Lord, am I made like a wilderness to Israel, or like a land bringing forth late fruit? And so why did my people say, We have gone away, we shall no longer come to thee?)

Jeremiah 2:21-31 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.