Jeremiah 2:33
in Jeremiah 2How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How trimmest thou thy way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women hast thou taught thy ways.
KJV
Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
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This verse in Jeremiah 2
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
"Trimmest" best suits the image of one decking herself as a harlot. way--course of life. therefore--accordingly. Or else, "nay, thou hast even," &c. also . . . wicked ones--even the wicked harlots, that is, (laying aside the metaphor) even the Gentiles who are wicked, thou teachest to be still more so [GROTIUS].
This site's exposition
How skillfully you pursue love
on Jeremiah 2:33-37
The charge is skill turned to evil: “Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways”. Judah's skirts are “stained with the blood of the innocent poor”, yet she says, “I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me”, and the LORD judges her for that claim.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 33, 34) Why do you insist on showing your good path in seeking affection, when you have also taught your wicked ways? And on your wings (or in your hands) the blood of the souls of the poor and innocent is found. I did not find them in ditches (or pits), but in all of these (or under every oak tree). In vain, he says, you desire to defend yourself with the art of words, and to show your works as if they were good, so that you may deserve affection.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Trimmest - Or, deckest, Ezek xxiii, 40, thinking thereby to entice others to thy help. Taught - Nations that have been vile enough of themselves, by thy example are become more vile.
Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Why trimmest thou thy way - Ye have used a multitude of artifices to gain alliances with the neighboring idolatrous nations. Hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways - Ye have made even these idolaters worse than they were before. Dr. Blayney translates, “Therefore have I taught calamity thy ways.” A prosopopoeia: “I have instructed calamity where to find thee.” Thou shalt not escape punishment.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Why trimmest thou thy way - literally, “Why makest thou thy way good,” a phrase used here of the pains taken by the Jews to learn the idolatries of foreign nations. The wicked ones ... - Or, “therefore thou hast taught” thy ways wickednesses.”
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־ | mah- | how! | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תֵּיטִ֥בִי | teitivi | you make good | H3190 → | 117 times |
| דַּרְכֵּ֖ךְ | darkekh | way your | H1870 → | 707 times |
| לְבַקֵּ֣שׁ | levakesh | to seek | H1245 → | 225 times |
| אַהֲבָ֑ה | ʾahavah | love | H160 → | 38 times |
| לָכֵן֙ | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| גַּ֣ם | gam | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָרָע֔וֹת | haraot | <the> wicked women | H7451 → | 662 times |
| לִמַּ֖דְתְּ | limadti | you have taught | H3925 → | 85 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דְּרָכָֽיִךְ׃ | derakhayikh | ways your | H1870 → | 707 times |
מַה־how!
mah-H4100 →752 times
תֵּיטִ֥בִיyou make good
teitiviH3190 →117 times
דַּרְכֵּ֖ךְway your
darkekhH1870 →707 times
לְבַקֵּ֣שׁto seek
levakeshH1245 →225 times
אַהֲבָ֑הlove
ʾahavahH160 →38 times
לָכֵן֙<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
גַּ֣םalso
gamH1571 →769 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָרָע֔וֹת<the> wicked women
haraotH7451 →662 times
לִמַּ֖דְתְּyou have taught
limadtiH3925 →85 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
דְּרָכָֽיִךְ׃ways your
derakhayikhH1870 →707 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ezekiel 16:47And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:6–7
But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against My statutes worse than the countries around her. For her people have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 2 Kings 21:9
But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
- Ezekiel 5:6–7
Through
Jeremiah 2:36How unstable you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:22
How long will you wander, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the land—a woman will shelter a man.”
- Hosea 5:13
When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.
- Hosea 12:1
Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.
- Jeremiah 2:23
“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping…
- Jeremiah 31:22
Through
Ezekiel 16:27Therefore I stretched out My hand against you and reduced your portion. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your…
it leads to
- Isaiah 9:12
Aram from the east and Philistia from the west have devoured Israel with open mouths. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.
- Ezekiel 16:57
before your wickedness was uncovered? Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all those around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you.
- Isaiah 9:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Jeremiah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.