20 For from of old thou hast broken thy yoke, Drawn away thy bands, and sayest, `I do not serve,' For, on every high height, and under every green tree, Thou art wandering -- a harlot.
ye do utterly destroy all the places where the nations which ye are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the heights, and under every green tree;
I `am' Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of the Egyptians, from being their servants; and I break the bars of your yoke, and cause you to go erect.
And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, I break his yoke from off thy neck, And thy bands I draw away, And lay no more service on him do strangers.
As their sons remember their altars and their shrines, By the green tree, by the high hills.
Saying, `Lo, one sendeth away his wife, And she hath gone from him, And she hath been to another man, Doth he turn back unto her again? Greatly defiled is not that land? And thou hast committed whoredom with many lovers, And turn again to Me, an affirmation of Jehovah. Lift thine eyes to the high places, and see, Where hast thou not been lain with? On the ways thou hast sat for them, As an Arab in a wilderness, And thou defilest the land, By thy fornications, and by thy wickedness.
Who are inflamed among oaks, under every green tree, Slaughtering the children in valleys, Under clefts of the rocks. Among the smooth things of a brook `is' thy portion, They -- they `are' thy lot, Also to them thou hast poured out an oblation, Thou hast caused a present to ascend, For these things am I comforted? On a mountain, high and exalted, Thou hast set thy couch, Also thither thou hast gone up to make a sacrifice.
And Jehovah saith unto me, in the days of Josiah the king, `Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is going on every high mountain, and unto the place of every green tree, and committeth fornication there. And I say, after her doing all these, Unto Me thou dost turn back, and she hath not turned back, and see `it' doth her treacherous sister Judah. And I see when (for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery) I have sent her away, and I give the bill of her divorce unto her, that treacherous Judah her sister hath not feared, and goeth and committeth fornication -- she also.
And thou dost trust in thy beauty, And goest a-whoring because of thy renown, And dost pour out thy whoredoms On every passer by -- to him it is. And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in -- nor shall it be!
That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place. At every head of the way thou hast built thy high place, And thou dost make thy beauty abominable, And dost open wide thy feet to every passer by, And dost multiply thy whoredoms,
In thy building thine arch at the head of every way, Thy high place thou hast made in every broad place, And -- hast not been as a whore deriding a gift.
And burnt thy houses with fire, And done in thee judgments before the eyes of many women, And I have caused thee to cease from going a-whoring, And also a gift thou givest no more.
And I bring them in unto the land, That I did lift up My hand to give to them, And they see every high hill, and every thick tree, And they sacrifice there their sacrifices, And give there the provocation of their offering, And make there their sweet fragrance, And they pour out there their libations.
And go a-whoring doth Aholah under Me, And she doteth on her lovers, On the neighbouring Assyrians,
For gone a-whoring hath their mother, Acted shamefully hath their conceiver, For she hath said, I go after my lovers, Those giving my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.
And they answer Joshua, saying, `All that thou hast commanded us we do; and unto every `place' whither thou dost send us, we go;
and all the people answer together and say, `All that Jehovah hath spoken we do;' and Moses returneth the words of the people unto Jehovah.
for ye do not bow yourselves to another god -- for Jehovah, whose name `is' Zealous, is a zealous God. `Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitant of the land, and they have gone a-whoring after their gods, and have sacrificed to their gods, and `one' hath called to thee, and thou hast eaten of his sacrifice, and thou hast taken of their daughters to thy sons, and their daughters have gone a-whoring after their gods, and have caused thy sons to go a-whoring after their gods;
`And you hath Jehovah taken, and He is bringing you out from the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be to Him for a people -- an inheritance, as `at' this day.
Or hath God tried to go in to take to Himself, a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a strong hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors -- according to all that Jehovah your God hath done to you, in Egypt, before your eyes?
Draw near thou, and hear all that which Jehovah our God saith, and thou, thou dost speak unto us all that which Jehovah our God speaketh unto thee, and we have hearkened, and done it.
and thou hast remembered that a servant thou hast been in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God doth ransom thee; therefore I am commanding thee this thing to-day.
and I go down to deliver it out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to cause it to go up out of the land, unto a land good and broad, unto a land flowing with milk and honey -- unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
And the people say unto Joshua, `Jehovah our God we serve, and to His voice we hearken.'
and they cry unto Jehovah, and say, We have sinned, because we have forsaken Jehovah, and serve the Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and now, deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we serve Thee.
and Jeroboam maketh a festival in the eighth month, in the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that `is' in Judah, and he offereth on the altar -- so did he in Beth-El -- to sacrifice to the calves which he made, and he hath appointed in Beth-El the priests of the high places that he made.
Because the yoke of its burden, And the staff of its shoulder, the rod of its exactor, Thou hast broken as `in' the day of Midian.
And it hath come to pass, in that day, Turned is his burden from off thy shoulder, And his yoke from off thy neck, And destroyed hath been the yoke, because of prosperity.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 2
Commentary on Jeremiah 2 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 2
It is probable that this chapter was Jeremiah's first sermon after his ordination; and a most lively pathetic sermon it is as any we have is all the books of the prophets. Let him not say, "I cannot speak, for I am a child;' for, God having touched his mouth and put his words into it, none can speak better. The scope of the chapter is to show God's people their transgressions, even the house of Jacob their sins; it is all by way of reproof and conviction, that they might be brought to repent of their sins and so prevent the ruin that was coming upon them. The charge drawn up against them is very high, the aggravations are black, the arguments used for their conviction very close and pressing, and the expostulations very pungent and affecting. The sin which they are most particularly charged with here is idolatry, forsaking the true God, their own God, for other false gods. Now they are told,
Those hearts were hard indeed that were untouched and unhumbled when their sins were thus set in order before them. O that by meditating on this chapter we might be brought to repent of our spiritual idolatries, giving that place in our souls to the world and the flesh which should have been reserved for God only!
Jer 2:1-8
Here is,
Jer 2:9-13
The prophet, having shown their base ingratitude in forsaking God, here shows their unparalleled fickleness and folly (v. 9): I will yet plead with you. Note, Before God punishes sinners he pleads with them, to bring them to repentance. Note, further, When much has been said of the evil of sin, still there is more to be said; when one article of the charge is made good, there is another to be urged; when we have said a great deal, still we have yet to speak on God's behalf, Job 36:2. Those that deal with sinners, for their conviction, must urge a variety of arguments and follow their blow. God had before pleaded with their fathers, and asked why they walked after vanity and became vain, v. 5. Now he pleads with those who persisted in that vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers, and with their children's children, that is, with all that in every age tread in their steps. Let those that forsake God know that he is willing to argue the case fairly with them, that he may be justified when he speaks. He pleads that with us which we should plead with ourselves.
Jer 2:14-19
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, which were but an earnest of more and greater if they repented not. See how they smarted for their folly.
Jer 2:20-28
In these verses the prophet goes on with his charge against this backsliding people. Observe here,
Jer 2:29-37
The prophet here goes on in the same strain, aiming to bring a sinful people to repentance, that their destruction might be prevented.