29 Why do you complain against me? You have all rebelled against me, says the Lord. 30 In vain I have struck down your children; they accepted no correction. Your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion. 31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, "We are free, we will come to you no more"? 32 Can a girl forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number. 33 How well you direct your course to seek lovers! So that even to wicked women you have taught your ways. 34 Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things 35 you say, "I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me." Now I am bringing you to judgment for saying, "I have not sinned." 36 How lightly you gad about, changing your ways! You shall be put to shame by Egypt as you were put to shame by Assyria. 37 From there also you will come away with your hands on your head; for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust, and you will not prosper through them.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 2:29-37
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.