Jeremiah 2:27

say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jeremiah addresses the house of Israel and Judah during a prophetic rebuke for idolatry, immediately after describing their national shame and before challenging their manufactured gods.

The words — אֹמְרִ֨ים ('o.me.Rim) = [who] say and יְלִדְתָּ֔/נוּ (ye.lid.ti./nu) = you gave birth to/ us.

The thread — The pattern of turning to false sources in distress appears in Isaiah 26:16; Hosea 7:14; Judges 10:8.

Why it lands — The text demands a reader to identify where they assign ultimate authority and where they demand rescue, exposing the contradiction between claimed allegiance and actual reliance.

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

אֹמְרִ֨ים'o.me.Rim[who] say לָעֵ֜ץla./'Etzto <the>/ wood אָ֣בִי'A.v/i[are] father/ my אַ֗תָּה'A.tahyou וְלָאֶ֙בֶן֙ve./la./'E.venand/ to <the>/ stone אַ֣תְּ'atyou יְלִדְתָּ֔נוּye.lid.ti./nuyou gave birth to/ us כִּֽי־ki-for פָנ֥וּfa.Nuthey have turned אֵלַ֛י'e.La/ito/ me עֹ֖רֶף'O.refa back וְלֹ֣אve./Lo'and/ not פָנִ֑יםfa.Nima face וּבְעֵ֤תu./ve./'Etand/ at/ [the] time of רָֽעָתָם֙ra.'a.Ta/mcalamity/ their יֹֽאמְר֔וּyo.me.Ruthey will say ק֖וּמָהKu.ma/harise/ !וְהוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ׃ve./ho.shi.'E./nuand/ save/ us

King James Version

Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.

Cross-references

Isaiah 26:16 O LORD, they sought You in their distress; when You disciplined them, they poured out a quiet prayer.
Hosea 7:14 They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.
Judges 10:8 who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and they did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.
Psalms 78:34 When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God.
Psalms 115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men.
Isaiah 44:9 All makers of idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Their witnesses fail to see or comprehend, so they are put to shame.
Isaiah 46:6 They pour out their bags of gold and weigh out silver on scales; they hire a goldsmith to fashion it into a god, so they can bow down and worship.
Jeremiah 2:24 a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.
Jeremiah 10:8 But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!
Jeremiah 18:17 I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”