Jeremiah 2:27 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 2:27
Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
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
Isaiah 26:16 LORD, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
Hosea 7:14 And they have not cried unto me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they reb…
Judges 10:8-16 And that year they vexed and oppressed the children of Israel: eighteen years, all the children of Israel that were on the other side Jordan…
Psalms 78:34-37 When he slew them, then they sought him: and they returned and enquired early after God.
Psalms 115:4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.
Isaiah 44:9-20 They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they s…
Isaiah 46:6-8 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he maketh it a god: they fall down, yea, they wo…
Jeremiah 2:24 A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 2:20-28
In these verses the prophet goes on with his charge against this backsliding people. Observe here,
I. The sin itself that he charges them with - idolatry, that great provocation which they were so notoriously guilty of. 1. They frequented the places of idol-worship (Jer 2:20): "Upon every high hill and under every green tree, in the high places and the groves, such as the heathen had a foolish fondness and veneration for, thou wanderest, first to one and then to another, like one unsettled, and still uneasy and unsatisfied; but in all playing the harlot," worshipping false gods, which is spiritual whoredom, and was commonly accompanied with corporal whoredom too. Note, Those that leave God w…
Thou art my father--(Contrast Jer 3:4; Isa 64:8).
in . . . trouble they will say--namely, to God (Psa 78:34; Isa 26:16). Trouble often brings men to their senses (Luk 15:16-18).
John Gill on Jeremiah 2:27
Saying to a stock,.... "To a tree" (f); to a piece of wood; that is, to an image made of it; so the Targum,
"they say to an image of wood;''
what follows:
thou art my father; ascribing that to the idol which belongs to God, who was their Father that made them, and upheld them, was the author of their beings, and the God of their mercies:
and to a stone; an image of stone:
thou hast brought me forth: into being; affirming it to be his former and maker; so the Targum,
"to that which is made of stone, thou hast created me:''
for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face; they turned their faces to images of wood and stone, and worshipped them; and they turned their backs up…
Jeremiah 2:27-28
27. Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.
27. Dicentes ligno, Pater meus tu (hoc est, tu es pater meus,) et lapidi, Tu genuisti me (si legamuss per y, si autem per v, Tu genuisti nos;) quia verterunt mihi cervicem (dorsum, alii vertunt, vel, posteriora,) et non faciem: in tempore autem calamitatis suae dicent (hoc est, dicunt,) Surge et serva nos.
28. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy ci…
The Church Fathers
With unspeakable mercy, God deigned to be called the Father of humankind. He is in heaven, they on earth. He is the eternal Maker. They are made in time. He holds the earth in the hollow of his hand. They are like grasshoppers on the earth. Yet people forsook their heavenly Father and said to wood, "you are my father, and to the stone, you have begotten me." And for this reason, I think, the psalmist says to humankind, "Forget your own people as well, and your father's house."
How is a person wise who looks not for his Maker but says to a stone, "You are my father"? Who says to the devil as the Manichaean does, "You are the author of my being"? How is Arius wise, who prefers an imperfect and inferior creator to one who is a true and perfect one? How can Marcion or Eunomius be wise, who prefer to have an evil rather than a good God? And how can one be wise who does not fear his God? For "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
It is adultery, if you abandon the ecclesiastical and true knowledge and the opinion about God, and consent to false and incompatible opinion, either by deifying any created object or by making an idol of anything that does not exist, so as to overstep, or rather step away from, knowledge.… For this reason, the noble apostle calls one of the kinds of fornication, idolatry. In following the prophet says, "My people have committed fornication with wood and stone. They have said to the wood, 'you are my father' and to the stone, 'you have begotten me.' "
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
And yet idolatry brings to the people only disgrace, giving no help in the time of need. Jer 2:26. "As a thief is shamed when he is taken, so is the house of Israel put to shame; they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets. Jer 2:27. Because they say to the wood, Thou art my father; and to the stone, Thou hast borne me: for they have turned to me the back and not the face; but in the time of their trouble they say, Arise, and help us. Jer 2:28. Where then are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can help thee in the time of thy trouble; for as many as are thy cities, so many are thy gods, Judah." The thought in Jer 2:26 and Jer 2:27 is this, Isra…
These idols of a father and mother probably represented Baal and Asherah. • in times of trouble they cry out: See, e.g., Judg 10:10; Isa 26:16; Hos 5:15.
Rashi on Jeremiah 2:27
and at the time of their misfortune they say i.e., they say to Me, “Arise and save us.” Jonathan, too, translates in this manner: And at the time that misfortune befalls them, they deny their idols and confess before Me, and say. “Have mercy upon us and save us.”
