Jeremiah 2:23

Sin

²¹ Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

²² For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.

How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

²⁴ A wild ass 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 month they shall find her.

²⁵ Withhold thy foot from 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.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: “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,
KJV: How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
WEB: “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways,
ASV: How canst thou say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: [thou art] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
DARBY: How sayest thou, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals? See thy way in the valley, acknowledge what thou hast done a swift dromedary traversing her ways!
BLB: How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; know what you have done—a swift young she-camel entangling her ways,

ÅB: Hvordan kan du si: Jeg er ikke blitt uren, jeg har ikke gått etter Ba'alene? Se på din vei i dalen[^6]! Forstå hva du har gjort, du lette kamelhoppe som løper hit og dit!
OTB: "Hvordan kan du si, 'Jeg er ikke besmittet; jeg har ikke løpt etter Baalene'? Se din oppførsel i dalen; vurder hva du har gjort. Du er en rask kamelhoppe som løper hit og dit,
B1930: Hvorledes kan du si: Jeg er ikke blitt uren, jeg har ikke gått efter Ba'alene? Se på din vei i dalen! Forstå hvad du har gjort, du lette kamelhoppe som løper hit og dit! / < JER 7, 31.>

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Jeremiah 7:31
And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Read in context
Proverbs 30:12
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
Read in context
Jeremiah 3:2
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Read in context
Proverbs 30:20
Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.
Read in context
Romans 3:19
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Read in context
Revelation 3:17–18
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Read in context
Jeremiah 9:14
But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
Read in context
Esther 8:16
The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.
Read in context