29 "Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me," says the Lord. 30 "In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion. 31 "O generation, see the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are lords; We will come no more to You'? 32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. 33 "Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught The wicked women your ways. 34 Also on your skirts is found The blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, But plainly on all these things. 35 Yet you say, 'Because I am innocent, Surely His anger shall turn from me.' Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, 'I have not sinned.' 36 Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria. 37 Indeed you will go forth from him With your hands on your head; For the Lord has rejected your trusted allies, And you will not prosper by them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 2:29-37
Commentary on Jeremiah 2:29-37
(Read Jeremiah 2:29-37)
The nation had not been wrought upon by the judgements of God, but sought to justify themselves. The world is, to those who make it their home and their portion, a wilderness and a land of darkness; but those who dwell in God, have the lines fallen to them in pleasant places. Here is the language of presumptuous sinners. The Jews had long thrown off serious thoughts of God. How many days of our lives pass without suitable remembrance of him! The Lord was displeased with their confidences, and would not prosper them therein. Men employ all their ingenuity, but cannot find happiness in the way of sin, or excuse for it. They may shift from one sin to another, but none ever hardened himself against God, or turned from him, and prospered.