Jeremiah 2:13

Jeremiah 2:13

11 ^aHas a nation changed its gods,
Which are ^bnot gods?
^cBut My people have changed their Glory
For what does not profit.

12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this,
And be horribly afraid;
Be very desolate,” says the Lord.

13 “For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the ^afountain of living waters,
And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.

14 “Is Israel ^aa servant?
Is he a homeborn slave?
Why is he plundered?

15 ^aThe young lions roared at him, and growled;
They made his land waste;
His cities are burned, without inhabitant.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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two evils—not merely one evil, like the idolaters who know no better; besides simple idolatry, My people add the sin of forsaking the true God whom they have known; the heathen, though having the sin of idolatry, are free from the further sin of changing the true God for idols (Jeremiah 2:11).

forsaken me—The Hebrew collocation brings out the only living God into more prominent contrast with idol nonentities. "Me they have forsaken, the Fountain," etc. (Jeremiah 17:13; Psalms 36:9; John 4:14).

broken cisterns—tanks for rain water, common in the East, where wells are scarce. The tanks not only cannot give forth an ever-flowing fresh supply as fountains can, but cannot even retain the water poured into them; the stonework within being broken, the earth drinks up the collected water. So, in general, all earthly, compared with heavenly, means of satisfying man's highest wants (Isaiah 55:1-2; compare Luke 12:33).

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Jeremiah 2:13:**

Job 6:15
Psalms 106:15
Isaiah 35:7
Jeremiah 2:18
Jeremiah 5:19
Jeremiah 17:13
Jeremiah 18:14
Jonah 2:8
Zephaniah 1:6
Haggai 1:6
Haggai 1:10

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