The Meaning of Jeremiah 2:5 Explained

Jeremiah 2:5

KJV: Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

YLT: Thus said Jehovah: What -- have your fathers found in Me perversity, That they have gone far off from Me, And go after the vanity, and become vain,

Darby: Thus saith Jehovah: What injustice have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and become vain?

ASV: thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Thus saith  the LORD,  What iniquity  have your fathers  found  in me, that they are gone far  from me, and have walked  after  vanity,  and are become vain? 

What does Jeremiah 2:5 Mean?

Verse Meaning

The Lord wanted to know what He had done to provoke His people to leave Him and pursue other gods that left them empty. The Hebrew word hahebel, translated "emptiness," may be wordplay with the name Baal.

Context Summary

Jeremiah 2:1-8 - Ungrateful Forgetfulness
God regarded Israel as His bride, who had responded to His love, or as a vineyard and cornfield which were expected to yield their first fruits in response to the careful cultivation of the owner. Why had they failed to respond? For the answer let us question our own hearts. What marvels of perversity and disappointment we are! Who can understand or fathom the reason of our poor response to the yearning love of Christ! The heathen, in their punctilious devotion and lavish sacrifices at their idol-shrines, may well shame us. The root of the evil is disclosed in Jeremiah 2:31. We like to be lords, to assume and hold the mastery of our lives. But God has been anything but a wilderness to us. He has given us ornaments, and we owe to His grace the garments of righteousness which He has put on us. In return we have forgotten Him days without number, Jeremiah 2:32. Let us ask Him to call us back-nay more, to draw us by the chains of love. [source]

Chapter Summary: Jeremiah 2

1  God having shown his former kindness,
5  expostulates with the people on their causeless and unexampled revolt
14  They are the causes of their own calamities
18  The sins and idolatries of Judah
35  Her confidence is rejected

What do the individual words in Jeremiah 2:5 mean?

Thus says Yahweh what have found your fathers in Me injustice that they have gone far from Me and have followed idols and have become idolaters
כֹּ֣ה ׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה מַה־ מָּצְא֨וּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֥ם בִּי֙ עָ֔וֶל כִּ֥י רָחֲק֖וּ מֵעָלָ֑י וַיֵּֽלְכ֛וּ אַחֲרֵ֥י הַהֶ֖בֶל ؟ וַיֶּהְבָּֽלוּ

כֹּ֣ה ׀  Thus 
Parse: Adverb
Root: כֹּה  
Sense: thus, here, in this manner.
אָמַ֣ר  says 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: אָמַר 
Sense: to say, speak, utter.
יְהוָ֗ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
מָּצְא֨וּ  have  found 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: מָצָא  
Sense: to find, attain to.
אֲבוֹתֵיכֶ֥ם  your  fathers 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: אָב  
Sense: father of an individual.
בִּי֙  in  Me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
עָ֔וֶל  injustice 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עָוֶל 
Sense: injustice, unrighteousness, wrong.
כִּ֥י  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
רָחֲק֖וּ  they  have  gone  far 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: רָחַק  
Sense: to be or become far, be or become distant, be removed, go far away.
מֵעָלָ֑י  from  Me 
Parse: Preposition-m, first person common singular
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
וַיֵּֽלְכ֛וּ  and  have 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: הָלַךְ  
Sense: to go, walk, come.
אַחֲרֵ֥י  followed 
Parse: Preposition
Root: אַחַר 
Sense: after the following part, behind (of place), hinder, afterwards (of time).
הַהֶ֖בֶל  idols 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: הֶבֶל  
Sense: vapour, breath.
؟ וַיֶּהְבָּֽלוּ  and  have  become  idolaters 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine plural
Root: הָבַל  
Sense: to act emptily, become vain, be vain.