Jeremiah 2:13

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
people	עַמִּ֑י 'a.Mi	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
committed	עָשָׂ֣ה 'a.Sah	H6213	to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
two	שְׁתַּ֥יִם she.Ta.yim	H8147	two · cardinal number, feminine dual absolute
evils	רָע֖וֹת ra.'ot	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · noun, common feminine plural absolute
forsaken	עָזְב֜וּ 'a.ze.Vu	H5800	to loosen · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
fountain	מְק֣וֹר me.Kor	H4726	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
living	חַיִּ֗ים chai.Yim	H2416	alive · adjective, masculine plural absolute
waters	מַ֣יִם Ma.yim	H4325	water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
out	לַחְצֹ֤ב lach.Tzo	H2672	to cut or carve (wood · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
cisterns	בֹּאר֔וֹת bo.Rot	H877	a cistern · noun, common feminine plural absolute
broken	נִשְׁבָּרִ֔ים nish.ba.Rim	H7665	to burst (literally or figuratively) · verb, niphal active participle, masculine plural absolute
cisterns	בֹּארֹת֙ bo.Rot	H877	a cistern · noun, common feminine plural absolute
hold	יָכִ֖לוּ ya.Khi.lu	H3557	properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
water	הַמָּֽיִם ha.Ma.yim	H4325	water · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of…
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they…
Revelation 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of th…
Psalms 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him ta…
Isaiah 55:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 2:9-13

The prophet, having shown their base ingratitude in forsaking God, here shows their unparalleled fickleness and folly (Jer 2:9): I will yet plead with you. Note, Before God punishes sinners he pleads with them, to bring them to repentance. Note, further, When much has been said of the evil of sin, still there is more to be said; when one article of the charge is made good, there is another to be urged; when we have said a great deal, still we have yet to speak on God's behalf, Job 36:2. Those that deal with sinners, for their conviction, must urge a variety of arguments and follow their blow. God had before pleaded with their fathers, and asked why they walked after vanity and became vain, J…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 2:13

two evils--not merely one evil, like the idolaters who know no better; besides simple idolatry, My people add the sin of forsaking the true God whom they have known; the heathen, though having the sin of idolatry, are free from the further sin of changing the true God for idols (Jer 2:11). forsaken me--The Hebrew collocation brings out the only living God into more prominent contrast with idol nonentities. "Me they have forsaken, the Fountain," &c. (Jer 17:13; Psa 36:9; Joh 4:14). broken cisterns--tanks for rain water, common in the East, where wells are scarce. The tanks not only cannot give forth an ever-flowing fresh supply as fountains can, but cannot even retain the water poured int…

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John Gill on Jeremiah 2:13

For my people have committed two evils,.... Not but that they had committed more, but there were two principal ones they were guilty of, hereafter mentioned; and it was an aggravation of these crimes, that they were the professing people of God who had committed them: and it may be observed, that such sin; they are not without it, nor the commission of it; and may be left to fall into great sins, and yet remain his people; covenant interest cannot be dissolved; this should be considered not as an encouragement to sin, but as a relief under a sense of sin: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters; this is said of Christ, Sol 4:15, grace in him is compared to "water", it being coo…

The Church Fathers

O blessed change! Once the body wept, but now laughs forevermore. Once it desired the broken cisterns of which the prophet speaks, but now it has been satisfied in the Lord, the fountain of life.
— Jerome, LETTER 108.22

Let him "possess his vessel in sanctification and honor," let him drink of his own wells, not out of the dissolute cisterns of the harlots that cannot hold within them the pure waters of chastity.
— Jerome, LETTER 128.3

Nor do we receive that useless baptism of cisterns, for it has nothing to do with this baptism of life. Wherefore also God has announced that you have forsaken Him, the living fountain, and digged for yourselves broken cisterns which can hold no water.
— Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter XIX

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Cistern — The rendering of a Hebrew word bor, which means a receptacle for water conveyed to it; distinguished from beer, which denotes a place where water rises on the spot (Jer. 2:13; Prov. 5:15; Isa.…
Cistern · Broken — Broken
Confidence · FALSE — FALSE
Forsaking God · Leads men to follow their own devices — Leads men to follow their own devices
Fountain · .Of divine grace — .Of divine grace
Fountains And Springs · Illustrative: Of God — Illustrative: Of God
Idolatry · A virtual forsaking of God — A virtual forsaking of God
Ingratitude To God · Guilt of — Guilt of
Jews, The · National character of: Prone to backsliding — National character of: Prone to backsliding
Self-Righteousness · 2:9; — 2:9;

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Jeremiah 2:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 2:9-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 2:13

John Gill on Jeremiah 2:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Jeremiah 2:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 2:9-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 2:13

John Gill on Jeremiah 2:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Jeremiah 2:13

Keil & Delitzsch on Jeremiah 2:9-13

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 2:13

Rashi on Jeremiah 2:13