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Bible Verse Explanations and Resources


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Jeremiah 2:31

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? - Have I ever withheld from you any of the blessings necessary for your support?

A land of darkness - Have you, since you passed through the wilderness, and came out of the darkness of Egypt, ever been brought into similar circumstances? You have had food and all the necessaries of life for your bodies; and my ordinances and word to enlighten and cheer your souls. I have neither been a wilderness nor a land of darkness to you.

We are lords - We wish to be our own masters; we will neither brook religious nor civil restraint; we will regard no laws, human or Divine. It was this disposition that caused them to fall in so fully with the whole system of idolatry.

Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Or, “O generation” that ye are! An exclamation Of indignation at their hardened resistance to God.

A land of darkness - This word is written in Hebrew with two accents, as being a compound, signifying not merely darkness, but the darkness of Yahweh, i. e., very great darkness.

We are lords - Others render it: We rove about, wander about at our will, go where we like.

Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary
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.