Jeremiah 2:13

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Jeremiah 2:9-13

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 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Jeremiah 2:13

For my people have committed two evils ,.... Not but that they had committed more, but there were two principal ones they were guilty of, hereafter mentioned; and it was an aggravation of these crimes, that they were the professing people of God who had committed them: and it may be observed, that such sin; they are not without it, nor the commission of it; and may be left to fall into great sins, and yet remain his people; covenant interest cannot be dissolved; this should be considered not... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 2:13

Two evils - First, they forsook God, the Fountain of life, light, prosperity, and happiness. Secondly, they hewed out broken cisterns; they joined themselves to idols, from whom they could receive neither temporal nor spiritual good! Their conduct was the excess of folly and blindness. What we call here broken cisterns, means more properly such vessels as were ill made, not staunch, ill put together, so that the water leaked through them. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Jeremiah 2:13

Verse 13 If a reason is given here why the Prophet had bidden the heavens to be astonished and terrified, then we must render the words thus, “For two evils have my people done:” but I rather think that the preceding verse is connected with the former verses. The Prophet had said, “Go to the farthest lands, and see whether any nation has changed its gods, while yet they are mere inventions.” I think then the subject is closed with the exclamation in the preceding verse, when the Prophet says,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 2:1-14

A sweet remembrance embittered; or Divine delight turned by his people's ingratitude into Divine distress. I. GOD GREATLY DELIGHTS IN HIS PEOPLE 'S LOVE . See the similitude he employs: "the love of thine espousals." It is difficult for us to recall any period in the history of Israel when such high praise as this was merited by them. For it is of their love to God rather than of his to them—though there was never any doubt about that-that the prophet is here speaking.... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 2:1-37

It is always interesting to notice how later inspired writers hasten to do honor to their predecessors. Originality is not an object with the prophets, but rather the developing and adapting the truths long ago "delivered." The whole group of prophecies to which Jeremiah 2:1-37 . belongs contains numerous points of contact, in ideas or phraseology, with the song of Hoses ( Deuteronomy 32:1-52 .). The following have been indicated:—Cf. Jeremiah 2:5 with Deuteronomy 32:4 ; ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 2:10-13

The marvel of unbelief. A magnificent apostrophe. Yet this is no mere rhetoric. There is a terrible reality in the phenomenon to which attention is directed. Chittim, the general name of the islands and coast of the eastern Mediterranean, stands for the extreme west; and Kedar, the general name of the Arabs of the desert for the extreme east of the "world," with which the prophet and his hearers were familiar. Our "from China to Peru" would represent its meaning to us. I. THE ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 2:13

Two evils . Israel has not merely offended, like the heathen, by idolatry, but by deserting the only God who can satisfy the needs of human nature. The fountain of living waters . So Jeremiah 17:13 (comp. Psalms 36:9 ). Fountain; literally, tank or reservoir . Such reservoirs were "dug in the ground (see on Jeremiah 6:7 ), and chiefly intended for storing living waters, i . e . those of springs and rivulets" (Payne Smith). Cisterns, broken cisterns. A cistern, by its very... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 2:13

Broken cisterns. I. ALL MEN NEED SPIRITUAL REFRESHMENT . The soul has its thirst ( Psalms 63:1 ). 1. This is natural. We are born with instincts which reach out to the unseen, and the worldly habits which deaden these instincts cannot utterly eradicate them. If they could, we should cease to be men and become merely rational brutes, for "man is a religious animal." 2. This is intensified by the presence of life . Thirst is increased by a heated atmosphere, hard... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Jeremiah 2:13

Forsaking the fountain of living waters. I. THERE IS SUGGESTED HERE AN INCONCEIVABLE ACT OF FOLLY . It is a thing which could be believed of no one in his sound senses that he would leave a fountain of living water, knowing it to be such, and enjoying the use of it; and be contented with a cistern such as is here described. A fountain is that from which he benefits without any trouble; it is a pure gift of grace, and all he has to do is to take up his habitation by it.... read more

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