Bible Strands
Jeremiah 2:17
Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when He led you in the way?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Israel during a prophetic indictment, following the humiliation of Memphis and Tahpanhes officials shaving their heads. The question is posed as Yahweh confronts the people before detailing the futility of seeking Egypt and Assyria.
The words — עָזְבֵךְ (‘a.ze.vekh) translates literally as "by forsaking you," standing in direct grammatical construction with תַּעֲשֶׂה (ta‘aśeh), "you have done." These verbs establish the text's explicit claim that the people's own action produced their current state.
The thread — The text in Jeremiah 4:18 states that personal ways and deeds directly brought the suffering upon the people. Jeremiah 2:19 declares that their own evil and apostasies serve as their discipline, while Jeremiah 2:13 identifies the root action as forsaking the fountain of living water.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that present distress originates from a deliberate departure from divine guidance. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of personal responsibility for choosing alliances that yield no lasting benefit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way?
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:18 “Your ways and deeds have brought this upon you. This is your punishment; how bitter it is, because it pierces to the heart!”
- Jeremiah 2:19 Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
- Jeremiah 2:13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Leviticus 26:15 and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,
- Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
- Psalms 77:20 You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
- Psalms 107:7 He led them on a straight path to reach a city where they could live.
- Hosea 13:9 You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against Me—against your helper.
- Numbers 32:23 But if you do not do this, you will certainly sin against the LORD—and be assured that your sin will find you out.