New English Translation
Jeremiah 2:33
33“My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!
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, listen to what the Lord says. “Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel? Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you? Why then do you say, ‘We are free to wander. We will not come to you any more?’ 32Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels? Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire? But my people have forgotten me for more days than can even be counted. “My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! 34Even your clothes are stained with the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong; you did not catch them breaking into your homes. Yet, in spite of all these things you have done, 35you say, ‘I have not done anything wrong, so the Lord cannot really be angry with me any more.’ But, watch out! I will bring down judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not committed any sin.’
Read all of Jeremiah 2Jeremiah 2:33 word by word
מַה־תֵּיטִ֥בִי דַּרְכֵּ֖ךְ לְבַקֵּ֣שׁ אַהֲבָ֑ה לָכֵן֙ גַּ֣ם אֶת־הָרָע֔וֹת לִמַּ֖דְתְּ אֶת־דְּרָכָֽיִךְ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Jeremiah 2:33
- Jeremiah 2:23“How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.
- Jeremiah 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?” says the Lord.
- Isaiah 57:7On every high, elevated hill you prepare your bed; you go up there to offer sacrifices.
- Hosea 2:5For their mother has committed adultery; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, “I will seek out my lovers; they are the ones who give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine.
- 2 Chronicles 33:9But Manasseh misled the people of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed ahead of the Israelites.
- Ezekiel 16:27So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed by your obscene 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
In the dictionaries
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
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