Jeremiah 2:5

5. Have walked after vanity The original of “vanity” is, in the historical books, used in the sense of idols or false gods, as in Deuteronomy 32:21; 1Ki 16:13 ; 1 Kings 16:26, etc.; but in Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and some of the Psalms, it is used in a more general or abstract sense. In this book it is used in its earlier import, and this is one of many indications of the affinity of this book in thought and language with the formative period of Hebrew life. The precise words of this text occur in 2 Kings 17:15, where they are applied to the ten tribes. They involve the universally recognised law that the worshipper will be as the worshipped. The deity enshrined in the soul will, of necessity, be the dominant force in the life and character. God will be first of all Creator in his own realm.