All along Israel has been refractory; it cannot and will not cease from idolatry. Jeremiah 2:20. "For of old time thou hast broken thy yoke, torn off thy bands; and hast said: I will not serve; but upon every high hill, and under every green tree, thou stretchedst thyself as a harlot. Jeremiah 2:21. And I have planted thee a noble vine, all of genuine stock: and how hast thou changed thyself to me into the bastards of a strange vine? Jeremiah 2:22. Even though thou washedst thee with natron and tookest much soap, filthy remains thy guilt before me, saith the Lord Jahveh. Jeremiah 2:23. How canst thou say, I have not defiled me, after the Baals have I not gone? See thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done-thou lightfooted camel filly, entangling her says. Jeremiah 2:24. A wild she-ass used to the wilderness, that in her lust panteth for air; her heat, who shall restrain it? all that seek her run themselves weary; in her month they will find her. Jeremiah 2:25. Keep thy foot from going barefoot, and thy throat from thirst; but thou sayest, It is useless; no; for I have loved strangers, and after them I go." Jeremiah 2:20. מעולם, from eternity, i.e., from immemorial antiquity, has Israel broken the yoke of the divine law laid on it, and torn asunder the bands of decency and order which the commands of God, the ordinances of the Torah, put on, to nurture it to be a holy people of the Lord; torn them as an untamed bullock (Jeremiah 31:18) or a stubborn cow, Hosea 4:16. מוסרות, bands, are not the bands or cords of love with which God drew Israel, Hosea 11:4 (Graf), but the commands of God whose part it was to keep life within the bounds of purity, and to hold the people back from running riot in idolatry. On this head see Jeremiah 5:5; and for the expression, Psalm 2:3. The Masoretes have taken שׁברתי and נתקתי for the 1st person, pointing accordingly, and for אעבוד, as unsuitable to this, they have substituted אעבור. Ewald has decided in favour of these readings; but he is thus compelled to tear the verse to pieces and to hold the text to be defective, since the words from ותּאמרי onwards are not in keeping with what precedes. Even if we translate: I offend transgress not, the thought does not adapt itself well to the preceding; I have of old time broken thy yoke, etc.; nor can we easily reconcile with it the grounding clause; for on every high hill,...thou layest a whoring, where Ew. is compelled to force on כּי the adversative sig. Most commentators, following the example of the lxx and Vulg., have taken the two verbs for 2nd person; and thus is maintained the simple and natural thought that Israel has broken the yoke laid on it by God, renounced allegiance to Him, and practised idolatry on every hand. The spelling ,נתּקתּי ,שׁברתּי i.e., the formation of the 2nd pers. perf. with y, is frequently found in Jer.; cf. Jeremiah 2:33; Jeremiah 3:4; Jeremiah 4:19; Jeremiah 13:21, etc. It is really the fuller original spelling tiy which has been preserved in Aramaic, though seldom found in Hebrew; in Jer. it must be accounted an Aramaism; cf. Ew. 190, c; Gesen. 44, 2, Rem. 4. With the last clause, on every high hill, etc., cf. Hosea 4:13 and Ezekiel 6:13 with the comm. on Deuteronomy 12:2. Stretchest thyself as a harlot or a whoring, is a vivid description of idolatry. צעה, bend oneself, lie down ad coitum, like κατακλίνεσθαι, inclinari.

Jeremiah 2:26 Parallel Commentaries

the thief

Jeremiah 2:36 Why gad you about so much to change your way? you also shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assyria.

Jeremiah 3:24,25 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters...

Proverbs 6:30,31 Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry...

Isaiah 1:29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.

Romans 6:21 What fruit had you then in those things whereof you are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.

their kings

Jeremiah 32:32 Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they...

Ezra 9:7 Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass to this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests...

Nehemiah 9:32-34 Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keep covenant and mercy...

Daniel 9:6-8 Neither have we listened to your servants the prophets, which spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers...