Bible Strands
Jeremiah 2:31
You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD: “Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to You no more’?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet addresses the current generation of Israel with a divine rhetorical question, immediately following a declaration that their sons accepted no discipline and their prophets were devoured. The words — The text highlights הַ/דּ֗וֹר (ha./Dor, "generation") and רְא֣וּ (re.'U, "consider"), commanding the audience to examine Yahweh’s direct inquiry about being treated as a wilderness or a land of dense darkness. The thread — This accusation of spiritual abandonment parallels the pattern of prosperity leading to rebellion in Deuteronomy 32:15 and Deuteronomy 8:12, while echoing the direct prophetic confrontation style seen in 2 Samuel 12:7. Why it lands — The passage demands that readers stop rationalizing spiritual distance as independence and recognize that rejecting divine presence is a denial of reality, not a claim of freedom.
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
O generation, see ye the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee?
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
- 2 Samuel 12:7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
- Deuteronomy 8:12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses in which to dwell,
- Deuteronomy 31:20 When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.
- 2 Chronicles 31:10 and Azariah, the chief priest of the household of Zadok, answered him, “Since the people began to bring their contributions into the house of the LORD, we have had enough to eat, and there is plenty left over, because the LORD has blessed His people; this great abundance is what is left over.”
- Nehemiah 9:21 For forty years You sustained them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
- Psalms 10:4 In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.
- Psalms 12:4 They say, “With our tongues we will prevail. We own our lips—who can be our master?”
- Proverbs 30:9 Otherwise, I may have too much and deny You, saying, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, profaning the name of my God.
- Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, from a place in a land of darkness. I did not say to the descendants of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in a wasteland.’ I, the LORD, speak the truth; I say what is right.