Jeremiah 2:33

Jeremiah 2:33 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
• New International Version (NIV)How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
• English Standard Version (ESV)"How well you direct your course to seek love! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught The wicked women your ways.

Context of Jeremiah 2:33

31You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’? 32Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number. How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways. 34Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor, though you did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things 35you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

Jeremiah 2:33 word by word

מַה־תֵּיטִ֥בִי דַּרְכֵּ֖ךְ לְבַקֵּ֣שׁ אַהֲבָ֑ה לָכֵן֙ גַּ֣ם אֶת־הָרָע֔וֹת לִמַּ֖דְתְּ אֶת־דְּרָכָֽיִךְ׃Read the interlinear

• Howמָהmâh mah mâ ma meh · what?H4100
• skillfullyיָטַבyâţab · be goodH3190
• skillfullyדֶּ֫רֶךְderek · way: conductH1870
• you pursueבָּקַשׁbâqash · to seekH1245
• loveאַהֲבָה'ahăbâh · loveH160
• loveכֵּןkên · soH3651
• Evenגַּםgam · alsoH1571
• ·אֵת'êth · [Obj.]H853
• the most immoral of womenרַעra‛ râ‛âh · bad: evilH7451
• could learnלָמַדlâmad · to learn: teachH3925

Cross-references for Jeremiah 2:33

• 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 here and there,
• Jeremiah 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers— and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
• Isaiah 57:7On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
• Hosea 2:5For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’
• 2 Chronicles 33:9So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
• 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 lewd conduct.

Commentaries on Jeremiah 2:33

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 33Why 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.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 33Why 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.”Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 29-37Verses 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!…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 33-34The Israelites made plans with their "lovers" , their neighbor who had strong armies, by forming treaties for protection. God had already promised them protection. God saw this as an act of betrayal that tainted Israel's character. Like their pagan neighbors, Israel harmed its own innocent and poor people (Jeremiah 7:6; 2 Kings 21:16; 24:4).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3333. Why trimmest--Maurer translates, "How skilfully thou dost prepare thy way," &c. But see 2Ki 9:30. "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].Read the comment

Topics related to Jeremiah 2:33

• Church

In the dictionaries

• Attire
• Bitter
• Cry
• Degenerate
• Handle
• Hold
• Holiness
• Noble
• How
• Trim

Commentaries on Jeremiah 2

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings