Bible Strands
Jeremiah 2:36
How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks through Jeremiah to Judah, directly answering their claim of innocence after they have repeatedly abandoned Him for foreign alliances. This declaration occurs within a broader indictment of Judah’s spiritual infidelity and political maneuvering.
The words — The Hebrew term מְאֹד (me.'Od) literally means exceedingly, and לְ/שַׁנּוֹת (le./sha.Not) denotes the act of changing or altering. These words ground the prophet’s charge that Judah’s political shifts are fundamentally reckless.
The thread — The pattern of seeking foreign alliances appears in Hosea 5:13, where Ephraim turns to Assyria for help, and 2 Chronicles 28:16, which records Ahaz’s appeal to Assyria. Jeremiah 31:22 later addresses this same cycle of wandering and divine intervention.
Why it lands — The text states that reliance on Egypt and Assyria will produce only disappointment and shame. It requires the reader to abandon self-justification and acknowledge that trust misplaced in worldly systems cannot secure survival.
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 gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 31:22 How long will you wander, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the land—a woman will shelter a man.”
- Hosea 5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.
- 2 Chronicles 28:16 At that time King Ahaz sent for help from the king of Assyria.
- 2 Chronicles 28:20 Then Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came to Ahaz but afflicted him rather than strengthening him.
- 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,
- Hosea 12:1 Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.
- Isaiah 20:5 Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.
- Isaiah 30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Jeremiah 2:18 Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
- Jeremiah 2:33 How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women could learn from your ways.