Bible Strands
Jeremiah 2:33
How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Jeremiah addresses the people of Israel during a covenant lawsuit, using the metaphor of a bride who has abandoned her vows. He speaks at a moment of stark contrast between their past devotion to Yahweh and their current pursuit of foreign gods.
The words — The Hebrew phrase תֵּיטִבִי דַרְכֵּךְ (tei.Ti.vi dar.Ke/kh) literally renders "you make good your way" or "you skillfully arrange your path." It directly modifies לְבַקֵּשׁ אַהֲבָה (le.va.Kesh 'a.ha.Vah), meaning "to seek love," emphasizing the calculated effort behind their idolatry.
The thread — This motif of deliberate idolatrous pursuit appears in Isaiah 57:7, where the people set up high places for sacrifices, and in Ezekiel 16:47, which describes Jerusalem adopting the depravity of surrounding nations. The pattern extends to 2 Chronicles 33:9, where Manasseh leads the people into greater evil than the surrounding peoples.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that idolatry requires active, calculated effort rather than passive neglect. It asks the reader to examine where they invest deliberate pursuit and whether that pursuit aligns with covenant faithfulness.
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
Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 57:7 On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
- Ezekiel 16:47 And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.
- 2 Chronicles 33:9 So Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
- Jeremiah 2:23 “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,
- Jeremiah 2:36 How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
- Jeremiah 3:1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 16:27 Therefore I stretched out My hand against you and reduced your portion. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd conduct.
- Ezekiel 16:51 Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous.
- Hosea 2:5 For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’
- Hosea 2:13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.