1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,2“Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says,
“I remember for you the kindness of your youth,the love of your weddings;how you went after me in the wilderness,in a land that was not sown.3Israel was holiness to Yahweh,the first fruits of his increase.All who devour him will be held guilty.Evil will come on them,” ’ says Yahweh.”
4Hear Yahweh’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel!5Yahweh says,
“What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me,that they have gone far from me,and have walked after worthless vanity,and have become worthless?6They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,who led us through the wilderness,through a land of deserts and of pits,through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,through a land that no one passed through,and where no man lived?’7I brought you into a plentiful landto eat its fruit and its goodness;but when you entered, you defiled my land,and made my heritage an abomination.8The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’and those who handle the law didn’t know me.The rulers also transgressed against me,and the prophets prophesied by Baaland followed things that do not profit.9“Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says Yahweh,“and I will contend with your children’s children.10For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see.Send to Kedar, and consider diligently,and see if there has been such a thing.11Has a nation changed its gods,which really are no gods?But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit.12“Be astonished, you heavens, at thisand be horribly afraid.Be very desolate,” says Yahweh.13“For my people have committed two evils:they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters,and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.14Is Israel a slave?Is he born into slavery?Why has he become a captive?15The young lions have roared at him and yelled.They have made his land waste.His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.16The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.17“Haven’t you brought this on yourself,in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way?18Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor?Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?19“Your own wickedness will correct you,and your backsliding will rebuke you.Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,that you have forsaken Yahweh your God,and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.20“For long ago I broke off your yoke,and burst your bonds.You said, ‘I will not serve;’for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself,playing the prostitute.21Yet I had planted you a noble vine,a pure and faithful seed.How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?22For though you wash yourself with lye,and use much soap,yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled.I have not gone after the Baals’?See your way in the valley.Know what you have done.You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways,24a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving.When she is in heat, who can turn her away?All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.25“Keep your feet from being bare,and your throat from thirst.But you said, ‘It is in vain.No, for I have loved strangers,and I will go after them.’26As the thief is ashamed when he is found,so the house of Israel is ashamed:they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,27who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’for they have turned their back to me,and not their face;but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’28“But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves?Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble;for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.29“Why will you contend with me?You all have transgressed against me,” says Yahweh.30“I have struck your children in vain.They received no correction.Your own sword has devoured your prophets,like a destroying lion.31Generation, consider Yahweh’s word.Have I been a wilderness to Israel?Or a land of thick darkness?Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose.We will come to you no more?’32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,or a bride her attire?Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.33How well you prepare your way to seek love!Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways.34Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts.You didn’t find them breaking in,but it is because of all these things.35“Yet you said, ‘I am innocent.Surely his anger has turned away from me.’“Behold, I will judge you,because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’36Why do you go about so much to change your ways?You will be ashamed of Egypt also,as you were ashamed of Assyria.37You will also leave that place with your hands on your head;for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust,and you won’t prosper with them.
Commentary
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What others are saying
4 commentators · 88 notes on this chapter
Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17145
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
v. 1–8
Here is, I. A command given to Jeremiah to go and carry a message from God to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He was charged in general (Jer 1:17) to go and speak to them; here he is particularly charged to go and speak this to them. Note, It is good for…
v. 9–13
The prophet, having shown their base ingratitude in forsaking God, here shows their unparalleled fickleness and folly (Jer 2:9): I will yet plead with you. Note, Before God punishes sinners he pleads with them, to bring them to repentance. Note, further, When…
v. 14–19
The prophet, further to evince the folly of their forsaking God, shows them what mischiefs they had already brought upon themselves by so doing; it had already cost them dear, for to this were owing all the calamities their country was now groaning under…
John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176337
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
v. 1
Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying. Here begins the book, and Jeremiah's first sermon; and the following contains the message he was sent with, to which the preceding chapter is only a preface or introduction. The Targum calls it, "the word of…
v. 2
Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem,.... Of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the metropolis of Judea. The prophet seems now to have been at Anathoth, and therefore is bid to go from thence to Jerusalem, and there prophesy before the people in it, as the Targum…
v. 3
Israel was holiness unto the Lord,.... When first brought out of Egypt into the wilderness, by the Lord's choice and separation of them to be a holy people to him above all others; by covenant with him, and profession of him; and by his giving them holy laws…
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
v. 1–3
"And then came to me the word of Jahveh, saying: Go and publish in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: I have remembered to thy account the love of thy youth, the lovingness of thy courtship time, thy going after me in the wilderness, in a land unsown. Holy was…
v. 4–8
But Israel did not remain true to its first love; it has forgotten the benefits and blessings of its God, and has fallen away from Him in rebellion. Jer 2:4-5 "Hear the word of Jahveh, house of Jacob, and all families of the house of Israel. Jer 2:5. Thus…
v. 9–13
Such backsliding from God is unexampled and appalling. Jer 2:9. "Therefore will I further contend with you, ad with your children's children will I contend. Jer 2:10. For go over to the islands of the Chittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and observe well, and…
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
v. 3
holiness unto the Lord--that is, was consecrated to the service of Jehovah (Exo 19:5-6). They thus answered to the motto on their high priest's breastplate, "Holiness to the Lord" (Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2, Deu 14:21). first-fruits of his increase--that is, of…
v. 4
Jacob . . . Israel--the whole nation. families--(See on Jer 1:15). Hear God's word not only collectively, but individually (Zac 12:12-14).
v. 5
iniquity--wrong done to them (Isa 5:4; Mic 6:3; compare Deu 32:4). walked after vanity--contrasted with "walkest after me in the wilderness" (Jer 2:2): then I was their guide in the barren desert; now they take idols as their guides. vanity . . . vain--An…
