Bible Strands
Jeremiah 2:2
“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD commands Jeremiah to go to Jerusalem and proclaim a message in the city's hearing. This declaration occurs between the initial divine commission in Jeremiah 2:1 and the description of Israel as holy firstfruits in Jeremiah 2:3.
The words — הָלֹ֡ךְ (ha.Lokh) means "go," and וְ/קָֽרָאתָ֩ (ve./ka.ra.Ta) means "and you will proclaim." These verbs establish the prophetic mandate to publicly announce Yahweh's remembrance of Jerusalem's past devotion.
The thread — The motif of God remembering early covenant devotion appears in Ezekiel 16:60 and Ezekiel 16:8, while the command to proclaim in Jerusalem's streets parallels Jeremiah 11:6.
Why it lands — The text records Yahweh recalling Jerusalem's youthful devotion and wilderness following before addressing its later rebellion. It requires the reader to confront the gap between past faithfulness and present unfaithfulness without offering comfort until the covenant's demands are acknowledged.
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
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 16:60 But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
- Ezekiel 16:8 Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.
- Jeremiah 11:6 Then the LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: Hear the words of this covenant and carry them out.
- Deuteronomy 2:7 Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.
- Deuteronomy 8:2 Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.
- Isaiah 63:7 I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great compassion and loving devotion.
- Jeremiah 7:2 “Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD.
- Hosea 2:15 There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
- Exodus 14:31 When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.
- Nehemiah 9:12 You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.