Jer 2:2
2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the
    LORD; I remember thee, the {a} kindness of thy youth, the
    love of thy espousals, when thou wentest after me in the
    wilderness, {b} in a land [that was] not sown.

    (a) According to that grace and favour which I showed you
        from the beginning, when I first chose you to be my
        people, and married you to myself, Eze 16:8.
    (b) When I had delivered you out of Egypt.

Jer 2:3
2:3 Israel [was] {c} holiness to the LORD, [and] the firstfruits
    of his increase: all {d} that devour him shall offend; evil
    shall come upon them, saith the LORD.

    (c) Chosen above all others to serve the Lord only and the
        first offered to the Lord of all other nations.
    (d) Whoever challenged this people, or else annoyed them,
        was punished.

Jer 2:5
2:5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found
    in me, that they have gone {e} far from me, and have walked
    after vanity, and have become {f} vain?

    (e) That is, fallen to vile idolatry.
    (f) Altogether given to vanity, and are become blind and
        insensible as the idols that they serve.

Jer 2:6
2:6 Neither said they, Where [is] the LORD that brought us out
    of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness,
    through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of
    drought, and of {g} the shadow of death, through a land that
    no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

    (g) Where for lack of all things needed for life, you could
        look for nothing every hour but present death.

Jer 2:7
2:7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit
    of it and the goodness of it but when ye entered, ye defiled
    {h} my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

    (h) By your idolatry and wicked manners,
        Ps 78:58,106:38.

Jer 2:8
2:8 The priests said not, {i} Where [is] the LORD? and they that
    handle the {k} law knew me not: the {l} rulers also
    transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by {m}
    Baal, and walked after [things that] do not profit.

    (i) They did not teach the people to seek after God.
    (k) As the scribes, who would have expounded the law to the
        people.
    (l) Meaning, the princes and ministers: signifying, that all
        estates were corrupt.
    (m) That is, spoke vain things, and brought the people from
        the true worship of God to serve idols: for by Baal,
        which was the chief idol of the Moabites, are meant all
        idols.

Jer 2:9
2:9 Wherefore I will yet {n} plead with you, saith the LORD, and
    with your children's children will I plead.

    (n) Signifying that he would not as he might, straightway
        condemn them, but shows them by evident examples their
        great ingratitude that they might be ashamed and repent.

Jer 2:10
2:10 For pass over the isles of {o} Chittim, and see; and send
     to {p} Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there is
     such a thing.

     (o) Meaning, the Grecians and Italians.
     (p) To Arabia.

Jer 2:11
2:11 Hath a nation changed [their] gods, which [are] yet no
     gods? but my people have changed their {q} glory for [that
     which] doth not {r} profit.

     (q) That is, God who is their glory, and who makes them
         glorious above all other people, reproving the Jews
         that they were less diligent to serve the true God,
         than were the idolaters to honour their vanities.
     (r) Meaning the idols who were their destruction,
         Ps 106:36.

Jer 2:12
2:12 Be astonished, O ye {s} heavens, at this, and be horribly
     afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

     (s) He shows that the insensible creatures abhor this vile
         ingratitude, and as it were tremble for fear of God's
         great judgments against the same.

Jer 2:13
2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken
     me {t} the fountain of living waters, [and] hewed out for
     themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no
     water.

     (t) Signifying that when men forsake God's word, which is
         the fountain of life, they reject God himself, and so
         fall to their own inventions, and vain confidence, and
         procure to themselves destruction,
         Jon 2:8, Zec 10:2.

Jer 2:14
2:14 [Is] Israel a {u} servant?  [is] he a homeborn [slave]? why
     is he laid waste?

     (u) Have I ordered them like servants and not like dearly
         beloved children? Ex 4:22 therefore it is their
         fault only, if the enemy spoil them.

Jer 2:15
2:15 The young {x} lions roared upon him, [and] yelled, and they
     made his land waste: his cities are burned without
     {y} inhabitant.

     (x) The Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians.
     (y) Not one will be left to dwell there.

Jer 2:16
2:16 Also the children of {z} Noph and Tahapanes have {a} broken
     the crown of thy head.

     (z) That is, the Egyptians, for these were two great cities
         in Egypt.
     (a) Have grievously vexed you at various times.

Jer 2:17
2:17 Hast thou not procured this to thyself, in that thou hast
     forsaken the LORD thy God, when he {b} led thee by the way?

     (b) Showing that God would have still led them correctly,
         if they would have followed him.

Jer 2:18
2:18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of {c} Egypt, to
     drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the
     way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the {d} river?

     {c} To seek help from man, as though God was not able
         enough to defend you, which is to drink from the
         puddles and to leave the fountain, Isa 31:1.
     (d) That is, Euphrates.

Jer 2:19
2:19 Thy own wickedness shall {e} correct thee, and thy
     backslidings shall reprove thee: 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.

     (e) Meaning, that the wicked are insensible, till the
         punishment for their sin waken them as in
         Jer 2:26, Isa 3:9.

Jer 2:20
2:20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy
     bands; and thou saidst, {f} I will not transgress; when
     upon every high hill and under every green tree thou
     wanderest, playing the harlot.

     (f) When I delivered you out of Egypt,
         Ex 19:8, De 5:27, Jos 24:16, Ezr 10:12, He 8:6.

Jer 2:22
2:22 For though thou shalt wash thee with {g} lye, and take thee
     much soap, [yet] thy iniquity is marked before me, saith
     the Lord GOD.

     (g) Though you use all the purifications and ceremonies of
         the law, you cannot escape punishment.

Jer 2:23
2:23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not {h} gone
     after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou
     hast done: [thou art] a swift {i} dromedary traversing her
     ways;

     (h) Meaning that hypocrites deny that they worship the
         idols, but that they honour God in them, and therefore
         they call their doings God's service.
     (i) He compares the idolaters to these beasts, because they
         never cease running to and fro: for both valleys and
         hills are full of their idolatry.

Jer 2:24
2:24 A wild {k} donkey used to the wilderness, [that] snuffeth
     up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn
     her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves;
     in her {l} month they shall find her.

     (k) He compares the idolaters to a wild ass: for she can
         never be tamed nor yet wearied: for as she runs she can
         take her wind at every opportunity.
     (l) That is, when she is with foal, and therefore the
         hunters wait their time: so though you cannot be turned
         back now from your idolatry, yet when your iniquity
         will be at the fall, God will meet with you.

Jer 2:25
2:25 Withhold thy foot from {m} being unshod, and thy throat
     from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I
     have loved strangers, and after them will I go.

     (m) By this he warns them that they should not go into
         strange countries to seek help: for they should but
         spend their labour, and hurt themselves, which is here
         meant by the bare foot and thirst, Isa 57:10.

Jer 2:26
2:26 As the {n} thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the
     house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes,
     and their priests, and their prophets,

     (n) As a thief will not acknowledge his fault, till he is
         taken with the deed, and ready to be punished, so they
         will not confess their idolatry, till the plagues due
         to the same light on them.

Jer 2:27
2:27 Saying to a tree, Thou [art] my {o} father; and to a stone,
     Thou hast brought me forth: 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.

     (o) Meaning, that idolaters rob God of his honour: and
         where as he has taught to call him the father of all
         flesh, they attribute this title to their idols.

Jer 2:28
2:28 But where [are] thy gods that thou hast made for thyself?
     let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy
     trouble: for [according {p} to] the number of thy cities
     are thy gods, O Judah.

     (p) You thought that your gods of blocks and stones could
         have helped you, because they were many in number and
         present in every place: but now let us see whether
         either the multitude or their presence can deliver you
         from my plague, Jer 11:13.

Jer 2:29
2:29 Why will {q} ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed
     against me, saith the LORD.

     (q) As though I did you injury in punishing you, seeing
         that your faults are so evident.

Jer 2:30
2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they have received no
     correction: your {r} own sword hath devoured your prophets,
     like a destroying lion.

     (r) That is, you have killed your prophets, that exhorted
         you to repentance, as Zechariah, Isaiah, etc.

Jer 2:31
2:31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a
     {s} wilderness to Israel? a land of darkness? why say my
     people, We are lords; {t} we will come no more to thee?

     (s) Have I not given them abundance of all things?
     (t) But will trust in our own power and policy.

Jer 2:33
2:33 Why trimmest thou thy way to {u} seek love? therefore hast
     thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

     (u) With strangers.

Jer 2:34
2:34 Also in thy {x} skirts is found the blood of the souls of
     the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search,
     but upon all these.

     (x) The prophets and the faithful are slain in every corner
         of your country.

Jer 2:36
2:36 Why dost thou go about so much to change thy way? thou also
     shalt be ashamed of Egypt, {y} as thou wast ashamed of
     Assyria.

     (y) For the Assyrians had taken away the ten tribes out of
         Israel and destroyed Judah even to Jerusalem: and the
         Egyptians slew Josiah, and vexed the Jews in various
         ways.

Jer 2:37
2:37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thy hands upon {z}
     thy head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and
     thou shalt not prosper in them.

     (z) In sign of lamentation, as in 2Sa 13:19.