10“For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see,
         And send to Kedar and observe closely
         And see if there has been such a thing as this!

11“Has a nation changed gods
         When they were not gods?
         But My people have changed their glory
         For that which does not profit.

12“Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
         And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the LORD.

13“For My people have committed two evils:
         They have forsaken Me,
         The fountain of living waters,
         To hew for themselves cisterns,
         Broken cisterns
         That can hold no water.

14“Is Israel a slave? Or is he a homeborn servant?
         Why has he become a prey?

15“The young lions have roared at him,
         They have roared loudly.
         And they have made his land a waste;
         His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.

16“Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
         Have shaved the crown of your head.

17“Have you not done this to yourself
         By your forsaking the LORD your God
         When He led you in the way?

18“But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt,
         To drink the waters of the Nile?
         Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
         To drink the waters of the Euphrates?

19“Your own wickedness will correct you,
         And your apostasies will reprove you;
         Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter
         For you to forsake the LORD your God,
         And the dread of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

20“For long ago I broke your yoke
         And tore off your bonds;
         But you said, ‘I will not serve!’
         For on every high hill
         And under every green tree
         You have lain down as a harlot.

21“Yet I planted you a choice vine,
         A completely faithful seed.
         How then have you turned yourself before Me
         Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

22“Although you wash yourself with lye
         And use much soap,
         The stain of your iniquity is before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.

23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled,
         I have not gone after the Baals’?
         Look at your way in the valley!
         Know what you have done!
         You are a swift young camel entangling her ways,

24A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness,
         That sniffs the wind in her passion.
         In the time of her heat who can turn her away?
         All who seek her will not become weary;
         In her month they will find her.

25“Keep your feet from being unshod
         And your throat from thirst;
         But you said, ‘It is hopeless!
         No! For I have loved strangers,
         And after them I will walk.’

26“As the thief is shamed when he is discovered,
         So the house of Israel is shamed;
         They, their kings, their princes
         And their priests and their prophets,

27Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
         And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
         For they have turned their back to Me,
         And not their face;
         But in the time of their trouble they will say,
         ‘Arise and save us.’

28“But where are your gods
         Which you made for yourself?
         Let them arise, if they can save you
         In the time of your trouble;
         For according to the number of your cities
         Are your gods, O Judah.

29“Why do you contend with Me?
         You have all transgressed against Me,” declares the LORD.

30“In vain I have struck your sons;
         They accepted no chastening.
         Your sword has devoured your prophets
         Like a destroying lion.

31“O generation, heed the word of the LORD.
         Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
         Or a land of thick darkness?
         Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam;
         We will no longer come to You’?

32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
         Or a bride her attire?
         Yet My people have forgotten Me
         Days without number.

33“How well you prepare your way
         To seek love!
         Therefore even the wicked women
         You have taught your ways.

34“Also on your skirts is found
         The lifeblood of the innocent poor;
         You did not find them breaking in.
         But in spite of all these things,

35Yet you said, ‘I am innocent;
         Surely His anger is turned away from me.’
         Behold, I will enter into judgment with you
         Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

36“Why do you go around so much
         Changing your way?
         Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt
         As you were put to shame by Assyria.

37“From this place also you will go out
         With your hands on your head;
         For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
         And you will not prosper with them.”

Parallel Verses

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"Therefore I will yet contend with you," declares the LORD, "And with your sons' sons I will contend.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
"That is why I am bringing charges against you," declares the LORD, "and I am bringing charges against your grandchildren.

King James Bible
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore will I yet contend in judgement with you, saith the Lord, and I will plead with your children.

Darby Bible Translation
Therefore will I yet plead with you, saith Jehovah, and with your children's children will I plead.

English Revised Version
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

Webster's Bible Translation
Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

World English Bible
"Therefore I will yet contend with you," says Yahweh, "and I will contend with your children's children.

Young's Literal Translation
Therefore, yet I plead with you, An affirmation of Jehovah, And with your sons' sons I plead.

Cross References

Jeremiah 2:35 Yet you said, 'I am innocent; Surely His anger is turned away from me.' Behold, I will enter into judgment with you Because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

Ezekiel 20:35 and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.

Ezekiel 20:36 "As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you," declares the Lord GOD.

Commentary

Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary

Verses 9-13

The prophet, having shown their base ingratitude in forsaking God, here shows their unparalleled fickleness and folly (v. 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 that deal with sinners, for their conviction, must urge a variety of arguments and follow their blow. God had before pleaded with their fathers, and asked why they walked after vanity and became vain, v. 5. Now he pleads with those who persisted in that vain conversation received by tradition from their fathers, and with their children's children, that is, with all that in every age tread in their steps. Let those that forsake God know that he is willing to argue the case fairly with them, that he may be justified when he speaks. He pleads that with us which we should plead with ourselves.

I. He shows that they acted contrary to the usage of all nations. Their neighbours were more firm and faithful to their false gods than they were to the true God. They were ambitious of being like the nations, and yet in this they were unlike them. He challenges them to produce an instance of any nation that had changed their gods (v. 10, 11) or were apt to change them. Let them survey either the old records or the present state of the isles of Chittim, Greece, and the European islands, the countries that were more polite and learned, and of Kedar, that lay south-east (as the other north-west from them), which were more rude and barbarous; and they should not find an instance of a nation that had changed their gods, though they had never done them any kindness, nor could do, for they were no gods. Such a veneration had they for their gods, so good an opinion of them, and such a respect for the choice their fathers had made, that though they were gods of wood and stone they would not change them for gods of silver and gold, no, not for the living and true God. Shall we praise them for this? We praise them not. But it may well be urged, to the reproach of Israel, that they, who were the only people that had no cause to change their God, were yet the only people that had changed him. Note, Men are with difficulty brought off from that religion which they have been brought up in, though ever so absurd and grossly false. The zeal and constancy of idolaters should shame Christians out of their coldness and inconstancy.

II. He shows that they acted contrary to the dictates of common sense, in that they not only changed (it may sometimes be our duty and wisdom to do so), but that they changed for the worse, and made a bad bargain for themselves. 1. They parted from a God who was their glory, who made them truly glorious and every way put honour upon them, one whom they might with a humble confidence glory in as theirs, who is himself a glorious God and the glory of those whose God he is; he was particularly the glory of his people Israel, for his glory had often appeared on their tabernacle. 2. They closed with gods that could do them no good, gods that do not profit their worshippers. Idolaters change God's glory into shame (Rom. 1:23) and so they do their own; in dishonouring him, they disgrace and disparage themselves, and are enemies to their own interest. Note, Whatever those turn to who forsake God, it will never do them any good; it will flatter them and please them, but it cannot profit them. Heaven itself is here called upon to stand amazed at the sin and folly of these apostates from God (v. 12, 13): Be astonished, O you heavens! at this. The earth is so universally corrupt that it will take no notice of it; but let the heavens and heavenly bodies be astonished at it. Let the sun blush to see such ingratitude and be afraid to shine upon such ungrateful wretches. Those that forsook God worshipped the host of heaven, the sun, moon, and stars; but these, instead of being pleased with the adorations that were paid to them, were astonished and horribly afraid; and would rather have been very desolate, utterly exhausted (as the word is) and deprived of their light, than that it should have given occasion to any to worship them. Some refer it to the angels of heaven; if they rejoice at the return of souls to God, we may suppose that they are astonished and horribly afraid at the revolt of souls from him. The meaning is that the conduct of this people towards God was, (1.) Such as we may well be astonished and wonder at, that ever men, who pretend to reason, should do a thing so very absurd. (2.) Such as we ought to have a holy indignation at as impious, and a high affront to our Maker, whose honour every good man is jealous for. (3.) Such as we may tremble to think of the consequences of. What will be in the end hereof? Be horribly afraid to think of the wrath and curse which will be the portion of those who thus throw themselves out of God's grace and favour. Now what is it that is to be thought of with all this horror? It is this: "My people, whom I have taught and should have ruled, have committed two great evils, ingratitude and folly; they have acted contrary both to their duty and to their interest." [1.] They have affronted their God, by turning their back upon him, as if he were not worthy their notice: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, in whom they have an abundant and constant supply of all the comfort and relief they stand in need of, and have it freely." God is their fountain of life, Ps. 36:9. There is in him an all-sufficiency of grace and strength; all our springs are in him and our streams from him; to forsake him is, in effect, to deny this. He has been to us a bountiful benefactor, a fountain of living waters, over-flowing, ever-flowing, in the gifts of his favour; to forsake him is to refuse to acknowledge his kindness and to withhold that tribute of love and praise which his kindness calls for. [2.] They have cheated themselves, they forsook their own mercies, but it was for lying vanities. They took a great deal of pains to hew themselves out cisterns, to dig pits or pools in the earth or rock which they would carry water to, or which should receive the rain; but they proved broken cisterns, false at the bottom, so that they could hold no water. When they came to quench their thirst there they found nothing but mud and mire, and the filthy sediments of a standing lake. Such idols were to their worshippers, and such a change did those experience who turned from God to them. If we make an idol of any creature-wealth, or pleasure, or honour,-if we place our happiness in it, and promise ourselves the comfort and satisfaction in it which are to be had in God only,-if we make it our joy and love, our hope and confidence, we shall find it a cistern, which we take a great deal of pains to hew out and fill, and at the best it will hold but a little water, and that dead and flat, and soon corrupting and becoming nauseous. Nay, it is a broken cistern, that cracks and cleaves in hot weather, so that the water is lost when we have most need of it, Job 6:15. Let us therefore with purpose of heart cleave to the Lord only, for whither else shall we go? He has the words of eternal life.

Calvin's Commentary

9. Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will Iplead.

9. Propterea adhuc contendam (vel, disceptabo) vobiscum, dicit Jehovah; et cum filiis filiorum vestrorum disceptabo.

The particle vd oud, yet, or still, is not without weight; for the Prophet intimates, that if God had already punished the perfidy and wickedness of the people, he still retained whole his right to do so, as though he had said, "Think not that you have suffered all your punishment, though I have already severely visited your fathers for their wickedness and obstinacy; for as ye proceed in the same course, and as there is no moderation nor limits to your sins, I will not desist from what I have a right to do, but will punish to the last both you and your children, and all succeeding generations." We now then understand what the Prophet means.

It is indeed usual with hypocrites foolishly to cast off all fear, especially after having been once chastised by the Lord; for they think it enough that they have suffered punishment for their sins; and they do not consider that God moderately punishes the sins of men to invite others to repentance, and that he is in such a way sharp and severe as yet to restrain himself, in order that there may be room for hope, and that they who have sinned, while waiting for pardon, may thus more readily and willingly return to the right way. This is what hypocrites do not consider; but they think that God on the first occasion expends all his rigor, and so they promise themselves impunity as to the future. As for instance, -- When God chastises a city, or a country, with war, pestilence, or famine, while the evils continue there is dread and anxiety: most of those whom God thus afflicts sigh and groan, and even howl; but as soon as some relaxation takes place, they shake off the yoke, and having no concern for their wickedness, they return again as dogs to their vomit. It is hence necessary to declare to hypocrites what we see to have been done here by Jeremiah, -- that God so visits men for their sins, that in future he ceases not to pursue the same course, when he sees men so refractory as not to profit under his scourges.

Still, therefore, he says: this threat no doubt exasperated the minds of the nation: for as they dared to clamor against God, as we find in many places, and said that his ways were thorny, they spared not the prophets, and this we shall hereafter see: they indeed gave the prophets an odious character; and what? "These prophets," they said, "chatter nothing else but burdens, burdens, as though God ever fulminated against us; it would be better to close our ears than to be continually frightened by their words." It must then have been a severe thing to the Jews, when the Prophet said, Still God will contend with you But it was needful so to do.

Let us then learn from this passage, that whenever God reproves us, not only in words, but in reality, and reminds us of our sins, we do not so suffer for one fault as to be free for the future, but that until we from the heart repent, he ever sounds in our ears these words, Still God will contend with you: and a real contention is meant; for Jeremiah speaks not of naked doctrine, but intimates that the Jews were to be led before God's tribunal, because they ceased not to provoke his wrath: [36] and he declares the same thing respecting their children and the third generation. It afterwards follows --

Footnotes:

[36] Gataker thinks that it was verbal pleading: "It is as if he had said, I have argued the case with your forefathers already, let me debate the matter a little further with you, and let your posterity also consider well what I now say, (see Deuteronomy 31:19, 21.) And so is the same word afterwards used for debating the case or pleading, verse 29 (Jeremiah 2:29)." Henry, Adam Clarke, and Blayney, take the same view; but Scott seems to agree with Calvin The verb rvv, followed as it is here by 't, ever means a verbal dispute or contention. See Numbers 20:13; Nehemiah 13:11, 17; Proverbs 25:9; Isaiah 45:9. -- Ed

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Forsaking Jehovah
'Know therefore, and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that My fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.'--JER. ii. 19. Of course the original reference is to national apostasy, which was aggravated by the national covenant, and avenged by national disasters, which are interpreted and urged by the prophet as God's merciful pleading with men. But the text is true in reference to individuals. I. The universal indictment. This is not so …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

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John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1

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Charles G. Finney—The Backslider in Heart

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Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Section Chap. I. -iii.
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1 to Pray Does not Imply that Without Prayer God Would not Give us Anything...
1. To pray does not imply that without prayer God would not give us anything or that He would be unaware of our needs, but it has this great advantage, that in the attitude of prayer the soul is best fitted to receive the Giver of blessing as well as those blessings He desires to bestow. Thus it was that the fullness of the Spirit was not poured out upon the Apostles on the first day, but after ten days of special preparation. If a blessing were conferred upon one without a special readiness for …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

John Bunyan on the Terms of Communion and Fellowship of Christians at the Table of the Lord;
COMPRISING I. HIS CONFESSION OF FAITH, AND REASON OF HIS PRACTICE; II. DIFFERENCES ABOUT WATER BAPTISM NO BAR TO COMMUNION; AND III. PEACEABLE PRINCIPLES AND TRUE[1] ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Reader, these are extraordinary productions that will well repay an attentive perusal. It is the confession of faith of a Christian who had suffered nearly twelve years' imprisonment, under persecution for conscience sake. Shut up with his Bible, you have here the result of a prayerful study of those holy …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

The River of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The Lake of Sirbon.
Pliny writes, "From Pelusium are the intrenchments of Chabrias: mount Casius: the temple of Jupiter Casius: the tomb of Pompey the Great: Ostracine: Arabia is bounded sixty-five miles from Pelusium: soon after begins Idumea and Palestine from the rising up of the Sirbon lake." Either my eyes deceive me, while I read these things,--or mount Casius lies nearer Pelusium, than the lake of Sirbon. The maps have ill placed the Sirbon between mount Casius and Pelusium. Sirbon implies burning; the name of …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica