Bible Strands
Jeremiah 2:5
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me? They followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD addresses the house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel through Jeremiah (Jeremiah 2:4). This declaration immediately precedes a reminder that their ancestors failed to seek Yahweh during the Exodus and wilderness journey (Jeremiah 2:6).
The words — The verse opens with כֹּ֣ה (koh) meaning "thus" and אָמַ֣ר ('a.Mar) meaning "he says" to frame Yahweh's direct speech (Jeremiah 2:5). It asks what עָ֔וֶל ('A.vel), rendered "injustice" or "fault," the ancestors found in God that triggered their departure.
The thread — The pattern of rejecting divine instruction for empty substitutes appears in 2 Kings 17:15, where Israel abandons His statutes and covenants. Paul traces the same trajectory in Romans 1:21, showing that refusing to glorify God results in futile reasoning.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to identify the false premise that God lacks something worth pursuing elsewhere. It demands a clear-eyed assessment of where personal devotion has shifted from divine provision to empty alternatives.
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
Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 17:15 They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and became worthless themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
- Romans 1:21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Jeremiah 10:14 Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
- Jonah 2:8 Those who cling to worthless idols forsake His loving devotion.
- Psalms 115:8 Those who make them become like them, as do all who trust in them.
- Deuteronomy 32:21 They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.
- 1 Samuel 12:21 Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit you or deliver you, for they are empty.
- 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.
- Jeremiah 51:17 Every man is senseless and devoid of knowledge; every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols. For his molten images are a fraud, and there is no breath in them.
- Acts 14:15 “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.