30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
30 "In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion.
30 In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
30 "I've wasted my time trying to train your children. They've paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline. And you've gotten rid of your God-messengers, treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.
30 "In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.
30 "I have punished your children, but they did not respond to my discipline. You yourselves have killed your prophets as a lion kills its prey.
5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.
5 Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
5 "Why bother even trying to do anything with you when you just keep to your bullheaded ways? You keep beating your heads against brick walls. Everything within you protests against you.
5 Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.
5 Why do you continue to invite punishment? Must you rebel forever? Your head is injured, and your heart is sick.
(Read Isaiah 1:1-9)
Isaiah signifies, "The salvation of the Lord;" a very suitable name for this prophet, who prophesies so much of Jesus the Saviour, and his salvation. God's professing people did not know or consider that they owed their lives and comforts to God's fatherly care and kindness. How many are very careless in the affairs of their souls! Not considering what we do know in religion, does us as much harm, as ignorance of what we should know. The wickedness was universal. Here is a comparison taken from a sick and diseased body. The distemper threatens to be mortal. From the sole of the foot even to the head; from the meanest peasant to the greatest peer, there is no soundness, no good principle, no religion, for that is the health of the soul. Nothing but guilt and corruption; the sad effects of Adam's fall. This passage declares the total depravity of human nature. While sin remains unrepented, nothing is done toward healing these wounds, and preventing fatal effects. Jerusalem was exposed and unprotected, like the huts or sheds built up to guard ripening fruits. These are still to be seen in the East, where fruits form a large part of the summer food of the people. But the Lord had a small remnant of pious servants at Jerusalem. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. The evil nature is in every one of us; only Jesus and his sanctifying Spirit can restore us to spiritual health.
13 For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.
13 But the people have not returned to him who struck them, nor have they sought the Lord Almighty.
13 The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.
13 But the people paid no mind to him who hit them, didn't seek God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
13 For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them, Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
13 For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent. They will not seek the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
(Read Isaiah 9:8-21)
Those are ripening apace for ruin, whose hearts are unhumbled under humbling providences. For that which God designs, in smiting us, is, to turn us to himself; and if this point be not gained by lesser judgments, greater may be expected. The leaders of the people misled them. We have reason to be afraid of those that speak well of us, when we do ill. Wickedness was universal, all were infected with it. They shall be in trouble, and see no way out; and when men's ways displease the Lord, he makes even their friends to be at war with them. God would take away those they thought to have help from. Their rulers were the head. Their false prophets were the tail and the rush, the most despicable. In these civil contests, men preyed on near relations who were as their own flesh. The people turn not to Him who smites them, therefore he continues to smite: for when God judges, he will overcome; and the proudest, stoutest sinner shall either bend or break.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 2:30
Commentary on Jeremiah 2:29-37
(Read Jeremiah 2:29-37)
The nation had not been wrought upon by the judgements of God, but sought to justify themselves. The world is, to those who make it their home and their portion, a wilderness and a land of darkness; but those who dwell in God, have the lines fallen to them in pleasant places. Here is the language of presumptuous sinners. The Jews had long thrown off serious thoughts of God. How many days of our lives pass without suitable remembrance of him! The Lord was displeased with their confidences, and would not prosper them therein. Men employ all their ingenuity, but cannot find happiness in the way of sin, or excuse for it. They may shift from one sin to another, but none ever hardened himself against God, or turned from him, and prospered.