Jeremiah 2:25

25 Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’

Jeremiah 2:25 in Other Translations

25 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

25 Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.'

25 When will you stop running? When will you stop panting after other gods? But you say, ‘Save your breath. I’m in love with these foreign gods, and I can’t stop loving them now!’

25 "Slow down. Take a deep breath. What's the hurry? Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway? But you say, 'I can't help it. I'm addicted to alien gods. I can't quit.'

25 Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst. But you say: It's hopeless; I love strangers, and I will continue to follow them.

Jeremiah 2:25 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 2:25

Withhold thy foot from being unshod
That it may not be unshod, be naked and bare. The sense is, either, as some, do not take long journeys into foreign countries for help, as into Assyria and Egypt, whither they used to go barefoot; or wore out their shoes by their long journeys, and so returned without; or refrain from idolatry, as Jarchi interprets it, that thou mayest not go naked into captivity; or this is an euphemism, as others think, forbidding adulterous actions, showing the naked foot, the putting off of the shoes, in order to lie upon the bed, and prostitute herself to her lovers; and is to be understood of idolatry: and thy throat from thirst;
after wine, which excites lust; abstain from eager and burning lust after adulterous, that is, idolatrous practices; so the Targum,

``refrain thy feet from being joined with the people, and thy mouth from worshipping the idols of the people.''

The words are paraphrased in the Talmud ^F5 thus,

``withhold thyself from sinning, that thy foot may not become naked; (the gloss is, "when thou goest into captivity") refrain thy tongue from idle words, that thy throat may not thirst:''

this was said by the Lord, or by the prophets of the Lord sent unto them, to which the following is an answer: but thou saidst, there is no hope;
of ever being prevailed upon to relinquish those idolatrous practices, or of being received into the favour of God after such provocations: no; I will never refrain from them; I will not be persuaded to leave them: for I have loved strangers;
the strange gods of the nations: and after them will I go;
and worship them; so the Targum,

``I love to he joined to the people, and after the Worship of their idols will I go.''

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 77. 1.

Jeremiah 2:25 In-Context

23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,

24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert, sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.

25 Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’

26 “As a thief is disgraced when he is caught, so the people of Israel are disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.

27 They say to wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

Cross References

• 1. S Isaiah 57:10
• 2. Deuteronomy 32:16; Jeremiah 3:13; Jeremiah 14:10
• 3. S ver 8,S 23