Jeremiah 2 · Verse 20

Jeremiah 2:20

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
Jeremiah 2:20, King James Version

Jeremiah 2:20 in other translations

BSB“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
WEB“For long ago I broke off your yoke, and burst your bonds. You said, ‘I will not serve;’ for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself, playing the prostitute.
ASVFor of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thyself, playing the harlot.
YLTFor from of old thou hast broken thy yoke, Drawn away thy bands, and sayest, ‘I do not serve,' For, on every high height, and under every green tree, Thou art wandering--a harlot.
DARBYFor of old thou hast broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not serve. For upon every high hill, and under every green tree, thou bowest down, playing the harlot.
BBEFor in the past, your yoke was broken by your hands and your cords parted; and you said, I will not be your servant; for on every high hill and under every branching tree, your behaviour was like that of a loose woman
WebsterFor of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

What does Jeremiah 2:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
20. I--the Hebrew should be pointed as the second person feminine, a form common in Jeremiah: "Thou hast broken," &c. So the Septuagint, and the sense requires it. thy yoke ... bands--the yoke and bands which I laid on thee, My laws (Jr 5:5). transgress--so the Keri, and many manuscripts read. But the Septuagint and most authorities read, "I will not serve," that is, obey. The sense of English Version is, "I broke thy yoke (in Egypt)," &c., "and (at that time) thou saidst, I will not transgress; whereas thou hast (since then) wandered (from Me)" (Ex 19:8). hill ... green tree--the scene of idolatries (De 12:2; Is 57:5, 7). wanderest--rather, "thou hast bowed down thyself" (for the act of adultery: figurative of shameless idolatry, Ex 34:15, 16; compare Job 31:10).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 20 Of old time I have broken thy yoke - It is thought by able critics that the verbs should be read in the second person singular, Thou hast broken thy yoke, Thou hast burst thy bonds; and thus the Septuagint, συνετριψας τον ζυγον σου, "thou hast broken thy yoke." And the Vulgate, Confregisti jugum meum, rupisti, vincula mea; "Thou hast broken my yoke; thou hast burst my bonds;" and so the Arabic. But the Chaldee gives it a meaning which removes the difficulty: "I have broken the yoke of the people from thy neck; I have cut your bonds asunder." And when this was done, they did promise fair: for "thou saidst, I will not transgress;" but still they played the harlot - committed idolatrous acts in the high places, where the heathen had built their altars, pretending that elevation of this kind assisted their devotion.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Jeremiah 2:20-28
Notwithstanding all their advantages, Israel had become like the wild vine that bears poisonous fruit. Men are often as much under the power of their unbridled desires and their sinful lusts, as the brute beasts. But the Lord here warns them not to weary themselves in pursuits which could only bring distress and misery. As we must not despair of the mercy of God, but believe that to be sufficient for the pardon of our sins, so neither must we despair of the grace of God, but believe that it is able to subdue our corruptions, though ever so strong.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Jeremiah 2:20 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּ֣יkithatH3588
מֵעוֹלָ֞םme.'o.Lamfrom long agoH5769
שָׁבַ֣רְתִּיsha.Var.tiI broke offH7665
עֻלֵּ֗ךְ'u.Lekhyoke yourH5923
נִתַּ֙קְתִּי֙ni.Tak.tiI tore offH5423
מוֹסְרֹתַ֔יִךְmos.ro.Ta.yikhfetters yourH4147
וַתֹּאמְרִ֖יva.tom.Riand you saidH559
לֹ֣אlo'notH3808
אֶעֱב֑וֹר'e.'e.vodI will transgressH5674
כִּ֣יkiforH3588
עַֽל\־'al-onH5921
כָּל\־kol-everyH3605
גִּבְעָ֞הgiv.'AhhillH1389
גְּבֹהָ֗הge.vo.HahhighH1364
וְתַ֙חַת֙ve.Ta.chatand underH8478
כָּל\־kol-everyH3605
עֵ֣ץ'etztreeH6086
רַעֲנָ֔ןra.'a.NanluxuriantH7488
אַ֖תְּ'atyouH859
צֹעָ֥הtzo.'Ah[have been] lying downH6808
זֹנָֽה\׃zo.Naha prostituteH2181

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Jeremiah 2:20

  • Deuteronomy 12:2

    Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

  • Leviticus 26:13

    I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.

  • Jeremiah 17:2

    Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.

  • Hosea 3:3

    And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

  • Jeremiah 30:8

    For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

  • Isaiah 1:21

    How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

  • Deuteronomy 15:15

    And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.

  • Ezekiel 16:15-16

    But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

  • Ezekiel 20:28

    For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.

  • Isaiah 10:27

    And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

  • Jeremiah 3:1-2

    They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the Lord. Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

  • Isaiah 14:25

    That I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart from off their shoulders.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
For of.
30:8; Ex 3:8; Le 26:13; De 4:20,34; 15:15; Isa 9:4; 10:27; 14:25
Na 1:13
and thou saidst.
Ex 19:8; 24:3; De 5:27; 26:17; Jos 1:16; 24:26-24; 1Sa 12:10
transgress. or, serve. when upon.
3:6; De 12:2; 1Ki 12:32; Ps 78:58; Isa 57:5-7; Eze 16:24,25,31
Eze 20:28
playing.
3:1,6-8; Ex 34:14-16; De 12:2; Isa 1:21; Eze 16:15,16,28,41; 23:5
Ho 2:5; 3:3

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Jeremiah 2:19

    Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts.

  • Jeremiah 2:20

    For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

  • Jeremiah 2:21

    Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

Read all of Jeremiah 2

Jeremiah 2:20 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Porque desde muy atrás he quebrado tu yugo, y roto tus ataduras; y dijiste: No serviré. Con todo eso, sobre todo collado alto y debajo de todo árbol umbroso, corrías tú, oh ramera.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Car d’ancienneté tu as rompu ton joug, arraché tes liens, et tu as dit: Je ne servirai pas. Car, sur toute haute colline et sous tout arbre vert tu t’inclines, tu te prostitues.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn vor alters hast du dein Joch zerbrochen, deine Bande zerrissen, und hast gesagt: Ich will nicht dienen! sondern auf jedem hohen Hügel und unter jedem grünen Baume gabst du dich preis als Hure.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		A sæculo confregisti jugum meum: rupisti vincula mea, et dixisti: Non serviam. In omni enim colle sublimi, et sub omni ligno frondoso, tu prosternebaris meretrix.