Jeremiah 2:6 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 2:6
Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
up
הַמַּעֲלֶ֥הha.ma.'a.Leh
H5927
to ascend · definite article + verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
land
מֵאֶ֣רֶץme.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרָ֑יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
led
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
wilderness
בַּמִּדְבָּ֗ר
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
Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye…
Deuteronomy 8:14-16 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondag…
Isaiah 63:11-13 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his…
Hosea 13:4 Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside me.
Judges 6:13 And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fath…
2 Kings 2:14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had s…
Job 3:5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 2:1-8
Here is, I. A command given to Jeremiah to go and carry a message from God to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He was charged in general (Jer 1:17) to go and speak to them; here he is particularly charged to go and speak this to them. Note, It is good for ministers by faith and prayer to take out a fresh commission when they address themselves solemnly to any part of their work. Let a minister carefully compare what he has to deliver with the word of God, and see that it agrees with it, that he may be able to say, not only, The Lord sent me, but, He sent me to speak this. He must go from Anathoth, where he lived in a pleasant retirement, spending his time (it is likely) among a few friends and…
Neither said they, Where, &c.--The very words which God uses (Isa 63:9, Isa 63:11, Isa 63:13), when, as it were, reminding Himself of His former acts of love to Israel as a ground for interposing in their behalf again. When they would not say, Where is Jehovah, &c., God Himself at last said it for them (compare see on Jer 2:2).
deserts . . . pits--The desert between Mount Sinai and Palestine abounds in chasms and pits, in which beasts of burden often sink down to the knees. "Shadow of death" refers to the darkness of the caverns amidst the rocky precipices (Deu 8:15; Deu 32:10).
John Gill on Jeremiah 2:6
Neither said they, where is the Lord?.... They did not ask after him, nor seek his face and favour, nor worship him, nor took any notice of the blessings he bestowed upon them:
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? by means of Moses the deliverer, with a mighty hand, and outstretched arm; for, though Moses was the instrument, God was the efficient cause of the deliverance; the favour was his, and the glory of it ought to have been given to him:
that led us through the wilderness; of "Shur", or of "Sin", the desert of Arabia, Exodus 15:22 and a dreadful and terrible one it was:
through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death; where were s…
(Verse 6) And they did not say, Where is the Lord who led us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the desert, through an uninhabited and impassable land, through a land of thirst and the shadow of death, through a land in which no man walks, nor does any man dwell. For son of man, they interpreted as the seventy sons of man; and for the shadow of death, it was added from Theodotion, the shadow of death. And while this is evident according to history, it should be considered in light of the anagoge, that as long as we are in this world and are led out of Egypt, we ascend gradually, and first we pass through the deserts and the uninhabitable land, which the holy one ought not to inhabit, and the impassable land, to show the difficulty of the journey. You are thirsty for the earth, where we always desire greater things and are never content with the present. And it is an image, or rather a shadow of death: for we are always in danger, and everywhere the devil sets his traps. On the earth where no man has walked, who is perfect in Christ. For we will all rise to become perfect men, to the measure of the fullness of Christ's age. Neither does he who is a man of God or the Son of Man ever reside in it, but always hastens to greater things. From this it is clear that there is no perfection in the journey, but in the end of the journey and in the dwelling place that is prepared for the saints in heaven, and about which it is said: Those who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God (Psalm 133:1). Therefore, it is in vain that this new heresy suspects perfection to be here, where there is a battle and a contest, and an uncertain outcome of future events.
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
Death — May be simply defined as the termination of life. It is represented under a variety of aspects in Scripture: (1.) “The dust shall return to the earth as it was” (Eccl. 12:7). (2.) “Thou takest away…
Desert · An arid region having only sparse vegetation — An arid region having only sparse vegetation
Deserts · Described as: Uninhabited and lonesome — Described as: Uninhabited and lonesome
Forsaking God · Unreasonableness and ingratitude of — Unreasonableness and ingratitude of
Ingratitude To God · Unreasonable — Unreasonable
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).
ba.mid.Bar
H4057
a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
land
בְּאֶ֨רֶץbe.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
deserts
עֲרָבָ֤ה'a.ra.Vah
H6160
a desert · noun, common feminine singular absolute
pits
וְשׁוּחָה֙ve.shu.Chah
H7745
a chasm · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
land
בְּאֶ֙רֶץ֙be.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
drought
צִיָּ֣הtzi.Yah
H6723
aridity · noun, common feminine singular absolute
death
וְצַלְמָ֔וֶתve.tzal.Ma.vet
H6757
shade of death · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
land
בְּאֶ֗רֶץbe.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
man
אִ֔ישׁ'Ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
through
עָ֤בַר'A.var
H5674
to cross over · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
man
אָדָ֖ם'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
dwelt
יָשַׁ֥בya.Shav
H3427
properly · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
John Calvin on Jeremiah 2:6-7
Jeremiah 2:6-7
6. Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
6. Et non dixerunt, (hoc est, non cogitarunt apud se,) Ubi est Jehova, qui eduxit nos e terra Egypti, et proficisci fecit nos per desertum in terra solitaria (vel, vasta) et squalida, in terra horribili et umbrae mortis; in terra per quam vir non transtit, et in qua non habitavit homo?
7. And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye ent…
But Israel did not remain true to its first love; it has forgotten the benefits and blessings of its God, and has fallen away from Him in rebellion.
Jer 2:4-5
"Hear the word of Jahveh, house of Jacob, and all families of the house of Israel. Jer 2:5. Thus saith Jahveh, What have your fathers found in me of wrongfulness, that they are gone far from me, and have gone after vanity, and are become vain? Jer 2:6. And they said not, Where is Jahveh that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us in the wilderness, in the land of steppes and of pits, in the land of drought and of the shadow of death, in a land that no one passes through and where no man dwells? Jer 2:7. And I brought you i…
By not seeking the Lord, Israel’s ancestors showed that they had lost interest in their history. To them, the God of Israel was a delusion. They were only interested in the sensual excitement of the moment.
Rashi on Jeremiah 2:6
And they did not say, Where is the Lord that we should follow other gods?
plains Heb. ערבה (planure in O.F.), related to pianoro in Old Italian, meaning ‘a plateau.’
and pits Heb. ושוחה (enfosses in O.F.), pitted.
waste Heb. ציה (degat in French).
and darkness Heb. וצלמות. An expression of darkness.
