30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
30 "In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion.
30 In vain have I struck your children; they took no correction; your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
30 "I've wasted my time trying to train your children. They've paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline. And you've gotten rid of your God-messengers, treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.
30 "In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.
30 "I have punished your children, but they did not respond to my discipline. You yourselves have killed your prophets as a lion kills its prey.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 2:30
Commentary on Jeremiah 2:29-37
(Read Jeremiah 2:29-37)
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.