Jeremiah 2:5
New International Version
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

New Living Translation
This is what the LORD says: “What did your ancestors find wrong with me that led them to stray so far from me? They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves.

English Standard Version
Thus says the LORD: “What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?

Berean Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

King James Bible
Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

New King James Version
Thus says the LORD: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, That they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, And have become idolaters?

New American Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me, And walked after emptiness and became empty?

NASB 1995
Thus says the LORD, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty?

NASB 1977
Thus says the LORD, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty?

Legacy Standard Bible
Thus says Yahweh, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after vanity and became vain?

Amplified Bible
Thus says the LORD, “What injustice or unrighteousness did your fathers find in Me, That they have wandered far from Me And [habitually] walked after emptiness and futility and became empty?

Christian Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: What fault did your ancestors find in me that they went so far from me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

American Standard Version
Thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Thus says LORD JEHOVAH: “What is the evil your fathers found in me who removed themselves far from me, and they went after nothing and they have gained nothing?

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Thus saith the Lord, What trespass have your fathers found in me, that they have revolted far from me, and gone after vanities, and become vain?

Contemporary English Version
and I, the LORD, will speak. I was never unfair to your ancestors, but they left me and became worthless by following worthless idols.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thus saith the Lord: What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

English Revised Version
thus saith the LORD, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
This is what the LORD says: What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they went so far away from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

Good News Translation
The LORD says: "What accusation did your ancestors bring against me? What made them turn away from me? They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

International Standard Version
This is what the LORD says: "What did your ancestors find wrong with me that they left me, and pursued worthless things, and so they became worthless?

JPS Tanakh 1917
Thus saith the LORD: What unrighteousness have your fathers found in Me, That they are gone far from Me, And have walked after things of nought, and are become nought?

Literal Standard Version
Thus said YHWH: “What perversity have your fathers found in Me, | That they have gone far off from Me, | And go after vanity, and become vain,

Majority Standard Bible
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

New American Bible
thus says the LORD: What fault did your ancestors find in me that they withdrew from me, Went after emptiness, and became empty themselves?

NET Bible
This is what the Lord says: "What fault could your ancestors have possibly found in me that they strayed so far from me? They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.

New Revised Standard Version
Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?

New Heart English Bible
Thus says the LORD, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

Webster's Bible Translation
Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and have become vain?

World English Bible
Yahweh 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?

Young's Literal Translation
Thus said Jehovah: What -- have your fathers found in Me perversity, That they have gone far off from Me, And go after the vanity, and become vain,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel has Forsaken God
4Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel. 5This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves? 6They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’…

Cross References
Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

2 Kings 17:15
They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

Isaiah 5:4
What more could I have done for My vineyard than I already did for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?

Isaiah 46:12
Listen to Me, you stubborn people, far removed from righteousness:

Jeremiah 2:4
Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel.

Jeremiah 8:19
Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: "Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her King no longer there?" "Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?"

Micah 6:3
My people, what have I done to you? Testify against Me how I have wearied you!


Treasury of Scripture

Thus said the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

what

Jeremiah 2:31
O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?

Isaiah 5:3,4
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard…

Isaiah 43:22,23
But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel…

are gone

Jeremiah 12:2
Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

Isaiah 29:13
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Ezekiel 11:15
Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.

walked

Jeremiah 10:8,14,15
But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities…

Jeremiah 14:22
Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

Deuteronomy 32:21
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.

and are

Jeremiah 51:17,18
Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them…

Psalm 115:8
They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

Isaiah 44:9
They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed.

Jump to Previous
Emptiness Empty Evil Far Fathers Fault Find Followed Found Idols Iniquity Injustice Nought Perversity Strayed Unrighteousness Vain Vanity Walked Walking Worthless Worthlessness Wrong
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Emptiness Empty Evil Far Fathers Fault Find Followed Found Idols Iniquity Injustice Nought Perversity Strayed Unrighteousness Vain Vanity Walked Walking Worthless Worthlessness Wrong
Jeremiah 2
1. God having shown his former kindness,
5. expostulates with the people on their causeless and unexampled revolt
14. They are the causes of their own calamities
18. The sins and idolatries of Judah
35. Her confidence is rejected.














(5) Vanity.--In the special sense, as a synonym for idol-worship (Deuteronomy 32:21; 1Kings 16:13). As in the character of a husband wronged by his wife's desertion Jehovah pleads with His people, and asks whether He has failed in anything.

Verse 5. - What iniquity, etc.; rather, what unrighteousness, etc. (comp. Deuteronomy 32:4, "a God of faithfulness, and without unrighteousness," alluding to the "covenant" between Jehovah and Israel). God's condescending grace (his 'anavah, Psalm 18:36). As if he were under an obligation to Israel (comp. Micah 6:3, etc.; Isaiah 5:3). Vanity; i.e. the idols; literally, a breath (so Jeremiah 10:15; Jeremiah 14:22; Jeremiah 16:19). Are become vain. The whole being of man is affected by the want of solid basis to his religion (comp. Jeremiah 23:16; Psalm 115:8); and the evident allusion to our passage in Romans 1:21 (St. Paul has ἐματαιώθησαν, as Septuagint here). The clause is verbally repeated in 2 Kings 17:15, with reference to the ten tribes.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
This is what
כֹּ֣ה ׀ (kōh)
Adverb
Strong's 3541: Like this, thus, here, now

the LORD
יְהוָ֗ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

says:
אָמַ֣ר (’ā·mar)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

“What
מַה־ (mah-)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

fault
עָ֔וֶל (‘ā·wel)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5766: Injustice, unrighteousness

did your fathers
אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֥ם (’ă·ḇō·w·ṯê·ḵem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine plural
Strong's 1: Father

find in Me
מָּצְא֨וּ (mā·ṣə·’ū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 4672: To come forth to, appear, exist, to attain, find, acquire, to occur, meet, be present

that
כִּ֥י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

they strayed so far
רָחֲק֖וּ (rā·ḥă·qū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 7368: To be or become far or distant

from Me,
מֵעָלָ֑י (mê·‘ā·lāy)
Preposition-m | first person common singular
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

and followed
וַיֵּֽלְכ֛וּ (way·yê·lə·ḵū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

worthless idols,
הַהֶ֖בֶל (ha·he·ḇel)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 1892: Emptiness, vanity, transitory, unsatisfactory

and became worthless themselves?
וַיֶּהְבָּֽלוּ׃ (way·yeh·bā·lū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1891: To act emptily, become vain


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 2:5 Thus says Yahweh What unrighteousness have your (Jer.)
Jeremiah 2:4
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