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See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there, <a href="/nlt/jeremiah/2.htm">New Living Translation</a> “You say, ‘That’s not true! I haven’t worshiped the images of Baal!’ But how can you say that? Go and look in any valley in the land! Face the awful sins you have done. You are like a restless female camel desperately searching for a mate. <a href="/esv/jeremiah/2.htm">English Standard Version</a> How can you say, ‘I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done— a restless young camel running here and there, <a href="/bsb/jeremiah/2.htm">Berean Standard Bible</a> “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there, <a href="/kjv/jeremiah/2.htm">King James Bible</a> How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; <a href="/nkjv/jeremiah/2.htm">New King James Version</a> “How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways, <a href="/nasb_/jeremiah/2.htm">New American Standard Bible</a> “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! You are a swift young camel running about senselessly on her ways, <a href="/nasb/jeremiah/2.htm">NASB 1995</a> &#8220How can you say, &#8216I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals &#8216? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! You are a swift young camel entangling her ways, <a href="/nasb77/jeremiah/2.htm">NASB 1977 </a> “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! You are a swift young camel entangling her ways, <a href="/lsb/jeremiah/2.htm">Legacy Standard Bible </a> “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not walked after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! You are a swift young camel entangling her ways, <a href="/amp/jeremiah/2.htm">Amplified Bible</a> “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after [man-made gods like] the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley; Know [without any doubt] what you have done! You are a swift and restless young [female] camel [in the heat of her passion] running here and there, <a href="/csb/jeremiah/2.htm">Christian Standard Bible</a> How can you protest, “I am not defiled; I have not followed the Baals”? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young camel twisting and turning on her way, <a href="/hcsb/jeremiah/2.htm">Holman Christian Standard Bible</a> How can you protest, &#8220I am not defiled; I have not followed the Baals"? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young camel twisting and turning on her way, <a href="/asv/jeremiah/2.htm">American Standard Version</a> How canst thou say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; <a href="/cev/jeremiah/2.htm">Contemporary English Version</a> You deny your sins and say, "We aren't unclean. We haven't worshiped Baal." But think about what you do in Hinnom Valley. You run back and forth like young camels, as you rush to worship one idol after another. <a href="/erv/jeremiah/2.htm">English Revised Version</a> How canst thou say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; <a href="/gwt/jeremiah/2.htm">GOD'S WORD® Translation</a> "How can you say that you haven't dishonored yourselves and haven't followed other gods-the Baals? Look how you've behaved in the valley. Acknowledge what you've done. You are like a young camel that swiftly runs here and there. <a href="/gnt/jeremiah/2.htm">Good News Translation</a> How can you say you have not defiled yourself, that you have never worshiped Baal? Look how you sinned in the valley; see what you have done. You are like a wild camel in heat, running around loose, <a href="/isv/jeremiah/2.htm">International Standard Version</a> "How can you say, 'I'm not defiled. I haven't gone after the Baals.'? Look at what you've done in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift young camel galloping aimlessly; <a href="/msb/jeremiah/2.htm">Majority Standard Bible</a> “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there, <a href="/net/jeremiah/2.htm">NET Bible</a> "How can you say, 'I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to the gods called Baal.' Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. <a href="/nheb/jeremiah/2.htm">New Heart English Bible</a> "How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways; <a href="/wbt/jeremiah/2.htm">Webster's Bible Translation</a> How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; <a href="/web/jeremiah/2.htm">World English Bible</a> “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled. I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, <div class="vheading2">Literal Translations</div><a href="/lsv/jeremiah/2.htm">Literal Standard Version</a> “How can you say, I have not been defiled, "" I have not gone after the Ba‘alim? See your way in a valley, know what you have done, "" A swift dromedary winding her ways, <a href="/ylt/jeremiah/2.htm">Young's Literal Translation</a> How sayest thou, 'I have not been defiled, After the Baalim I have not gone?' See thy way in a valley, know what thou hast done, A swift dromedary winding her ways, <a href="/slt/jeremiah/2.htm">Smith's Literal Translation</a> How wilt thou say, I was not defiled? I went not after the Baalims? See thy way in the valley, know what thou didst; a young she camel entangling her ways;<div class="vheading2">Catholic Translations</div><a href="/drb/jeremiah/2.htm">Douay-Rheims Bible</a> How canst thou say: I am not polluted, and I have not walked after Baalim? see thy ways in the valley, know what thou hast done: as a swift runner pursuing his course. <a href="/cpdv/jeremiah/2.htm">Catholic Public Domain Version</a> How can you say: ‘I have not been polluted. I have not walked after Baal?’ Consider your ways in the steep valley. Acknowledge what you have done, so that you may be like a swift runner, following his course. <a href="/nabre/jeremiah/2.htm">New American Bible</a> How can you say, “I am not defiled, I have not pursued the Baals”? Consider your conduct in the Valley, recall what you have done: A skittish young camel, running back and forth, <a href="/nrsvce/jeremiah/2.htm">New Revised Standard Version</a> How can you say, “I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals”? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done— a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,<div class="vheading2">Translations from Aramaic</div><a href="/lamsa/jeremiah/2.htm">Lamsa Bible</a> How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baal? See your ways in the valleys, and know what you have done: you have lifted up your voice, O you perverse in her ways; <a href="/hpbt/jeremiah/2.htm">Peshitta Holy Bible Translated</a> How will you say: "I am not defiled and I did not go after Baala?” See your ways in the valleys and know what you have done. You have lifted up your voice. You have perverted the ways<div class="vheading2">OT Translations</div><a href="/jps/jeremiah/2.htm">JPS Tanakh 1917</a> How canst thou say: 'I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baalim'? See thy way in the Valley, Know what thou hast done; Thou art a swift young camel traversing her ways; <a href="/sep/jeremiah/2.htm">Brenton Septuagint Translation</a> How wilt thou say, I am not polluted, and have not gone after Baal? behold thy ways in the burial-ground, and know what thou hast done: her voice has howled in the evening: <a href="/parallel/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Additional Translations ...</a></div></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><a name="study" id="study"></a><div class="vheadingv">Audio Bible</div><iframe width="100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5k55c51ZGhs?start=460" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe> <div class="vheadingv">Context</div><a href="/bsb/jeremiah/2.htm">Israel's Unfaithfulness</a> 23<a href="/hebrew/349.htm" title="349: ’êḵ (Interjection) -- How?. Also eykah; and teykakah; prolonged from 'ay; how? Or how!; also where.">“How</a> <a href="/hebrew/559.htm" title="559: tō·mə·rî (V-Qal-Imperf-2fs) -- To utter, say. A primitive root; to say.">can you say,</a> <a href="/hebrew/3808.htm" title="3808: lō (Adv-NegPrt) -- Not. Or lowi; or loh; a primitive particle; not; by implication, no; often used with other particles.">‘I am not</a> <a href="/hebrew/2930.htm" title="2930: niṭ·mê·ṯî (V-Nifal-Perf-1cs) -- To be or become unclean. A primitive root; to be foul, especially in a ceremial or moral sense.">defiled;</a> <a href="/hebrew/3808.htm" title="3808: lō (Adv-NegPrt) -- Not. Or lowi; or loh; a primitive particle; not; by implication, no; often used with other particles.">I have not</a> <a href="/hebrew/1980.htm" title="1980: hā·laḵ·tî (V-Qal-Perf-1cs) -- To go, come, walk. Akin to yalak; a primitive root; to walk.">run</a> <a href="/hebrew/310.htm" title="310: ’a·ḥă·rê (Prep) -- The hind or following part. From 'achar; properly, the hind part; generally used as an adverb or conjunction, after.">after</a> <a href="/hebrew/1168.htm" title="1168: hab·bə·‘ā·lîm (Art:: N-mp) -- Baal -- a heathen god. The same as ba'al; Baal, a Phoenician deity.">the Baals’?</a> <a href="/hebrew/7200.htm" title="7200: rə·’î (V-Qal-Imp-fs) -- To see. A primitive root; to see, literally or figuratively.">Look</a> <a href="/hebrew/1870.htm" title="1870: ḏar·kêḵ (N-csc:: 2fs) -- Way, road, distance, journey, manner. From darak; a road; figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb.">at your behavior</a> <a href="/hebrew/1516.htm" title="1516: bag·gay (Prep-b, Art:: N-cs) -- A valley. Or gay; probably from the same root as gevah; a gorge.">in the valley;</a> <a href="/hebrew/3045.htm" title="3045: də·‘î (V-Qal-Imp-fs) -- A primitive root; to know; used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially.">acknowledge</a> <a href="/hebrew/4100.htm" title="4100: meh (Interrog) -- What? how? anything. ">what</a> <a href="/hebrew/6213.htm" title="6213: ‘ā·śîṯ (V-Qal-Perf-2fs) -- To do, make. A primitive root; to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest application.">you have done.</a> <a href="/hebrew/7031.htm" title="7031: qal·lāh (Adj-fs) -- Light, swift, fleet. Contracted from qalal; light; rapid.">You are a swift</a> <a href="/hebrew/1072.htm" title="1072: biḵ·rāh (N-fs) -- A young camel, dromedary. Feminine of beker; a young she-camel.">young she-camel</a> <a href="/hebrew/8308.htm" title="8308: mə·śā·re·ḵeṯ (V-Piel-Prtcpl-fs) -- To twist. A primitive root; to interlace.">galloping here and there,</a> <a href="/hebrew/1870.htm" title="1870: də·rā·ḵe·hā (N-cpc:: 3fs) -- Way, road, distance, journey, manner. From darak; a road; figuratively, a course of life or mode of action, often adverb."></a> 24a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.…<div class="cred"><a href="//berean.bible">Berean Standard Bible</a> · <a href="//berean.bible/downloads.htm">Download</a></div> <a name="crossref" id="crossref"></a><div class="vheading">Cross References</div><div id="crf"><a href="/hosea/4-12.htm">Hosea 4:12-14</a> My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God. / They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery. / I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin. <a href="/ezekiel/16-15.htm">Ezekiel 16:15-22</a> But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking. / You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred! / You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself. ... <a href="/isaiah/57-3.htm">Isaiah 57:3-8</a> “But come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! / Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of deceit, / who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? ... <a href="/hosea/2-5.htm">Hosea 2:5-7</a> For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’ / Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way. / She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’ <a href="/ezekiel/23-19.htm">Ezekiel 23:19-21</a> Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt / and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions. / So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts. <a href="/2_kings/17-9.htm">2 Kings 17:9-12</a> The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city, they built high places in all their cities. / They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. / They burned incense on all the high places like the nations that the LORD had driven out before them. They did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger. ... <a href="/isaiah/1-21.htm">Isaiah 1:21</a> See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers! <a href="/hosea/5-3.htm">Hosea 5:3-4</a> I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled. / Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD. <a href="/ezekiel/6-9.htm">Ezekiel 6:9</a> Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations. <a href="/2_chronicles/28-22.htm">2 Chronicles 28:22-25</a> In the time of his distress, King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. / He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him, and he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But these gods were the downfall of Ahaz and of all Israel. / Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem. ... <a href="/matthew/23-27.htm">Matthew 23:27-28</a> Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. / In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. <a href="/romans/1-21.htm">Romans 1:21-23</a> For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. / Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools, / and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images of mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. <a href="/james/4-4.htm">James 4:4</a> You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God. <a href="/revelation/17-1.htm">Revelation 17:1-5</a> Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. / The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.” / And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. ... <a href="/1_corinthians/6-9.htm">1 Corinthians 6:9-11</a> Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, / nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. / And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.</div> <a name="tsk" id="tsk"><div class="vheading">Treasury of Scripture</div>How can you say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: you are a swift dromedary traversing her ways;how canst<a href="/jeremiah/2-34.htm">Jeremiah 2:34,35</a> Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these… <a href="/genesis/3-12.htm">Genesis 3:12,13</a> And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat… <a href="/1_samuel/15-13.htm">1 Samuel 15:13,14</a> And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD… see<a href="/jeremiah/3-2.htm">Jeremiah 3:2</a> 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.<a href="/psalms/50-21.htm">Psalm 50:21</a> These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.<a href="/ezekiel/16-1.htm">Ezekiel 16:1</a> Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,valley<a href="/jeremiah/7-31.htm">Jeremiah 7:31</a> And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.<a href="/isaiah/57-5.htm">Isaiah 57:5,6</a> Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? … thou art a swift.<a href="/esther/8-16.htm">Esther 8:16</a> The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy, and honour.<div class="vheading">Jump to Previous</div><a href="/isaiah/59-14.htm">Able</a> <a href="/2_chronicles/34-4.htm">Baalim</a> <a href="/2_chronicles/34-4.htm">Baals</a> <a href="/2_chronicles/33-3.htm">Ba'als</a> <a href="/psalms/131-2.htm">Behaved</a> <a href="/1_samuel/15-3.htm">Camel</a> <a href="/isaiah/66-5.htm">Clear</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-19.htm">Consider</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-7.htm">Defiled</a> <a href="/isaiah/64-6.htm">Polluted</a> <a href="/2_samuel/2-18.htm">Quick-Footed</a> <a href="/isaiah/59-10.htm">Running</a> <a href="/isaiah/66-20.htm">Swift</a> <a href="/isaiah/59-8.htm">Tracks</a> <a href="/isaiah/41-3.htm">Traversing</a> <a href="/isaiah/27-1.htm">Twisting</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-7.htm">Unclean</a> <a href="/isaiah/65-10.htm">Valley</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-21.htm">Way</a> <a href="/isaiah/66-3.htm">Ways</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-15.htm">Young</a><div class="vheading2">Jump to Next</div><a href="/jeremiah/2-24.htm">Able</a> <a href="/jeremiah/9-14.htm">Baalim</a> <a href="/jeremiah/9-14.htm">Baals</a> <a href="/jeremiah/9-14.htm">Ba'als</a> <a href="/daniel/5-20.htm">Behaved</a> <a href="/zechariah/14-15.htm">Camel</a> <a href="/jeremiah/29-29.htm">Clear</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-31.htm">Consider</a> <a href="/jeremiah/3-9.htm">Defiled</a> <a href="/jeremiah/3-1.htm">Polluted</a> <a href="/jeremiah/46-6.htm">Quick-Footed</a> <a href="/jeremiah/12-5.htm">Running</a> <a href="/jeremiah/8-7.htm">Swift</a> <a href="/psalms/65-11.htm">Tracks</a> <a href="/isaiah/41-3.htm">Traversing</a> <a href="/ezekiel/30-16.htm">Twisting</a> <a href="/jeremiah/3-2.htm">Unclean</a> <a href="/jeremiah/7-31.htm">Valley</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-33.htm">Way</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-33.htm">Ways</a> <a href="/jeremiah/6-11.htm">Young</a><div class="vheading2">Jeremiah 2</div>1. <a href="/jeremiah/2-1.htm">God having shown his former kindness, </a> 5. <a href="/jeremiah/2-5.htm">expostulates with the people on their causeless and unexampled revolt</a> 14. <a href="/jeremiah/2-14.htm">They are the causes of their own calamities</a> 18. <a href="/jeremiah/2-18.htm">The sins and idolatries of Judah</a> 35. <a href="/jeremiah/2-35.htm">Her confidence is rejected.</a> </div></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div>  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div>  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </div> </td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="combox"><div class="padcom"><a name="commentary" id="commentary"></a><div class="vheading"><a href="/study/jeremiah/2.htm">Berean Study Bible</a></div>How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? How can you say This phrase challenges the audacity of the people of Israel in denying their sin. In Hebrew, the word for "say" (אָמַר, 'amar) often implies a declaration or assertion. Here, it underscores the people's self-deception and the futility of their claims. Historically, Israel had been warned repeatedly by prophets about their idolatry, yet they continued to assert their innocence. This rhetorical question serves as a divine indictment, highlighting the disconnect between their words and actions.I am not defiled The term "defiled" (טָמֵא, tame) in Hebrew refers to ritual impurity, often associated with idolatry and moral corruption. In the context of ancient Israel, defilement was not just a physical state but a spiritual one, indicating a breach in the covenant relationship with God. The people's claim of being undefiled is a stark denial of their spiritual adultery, as they had engaged in practices that were abominable to God.I have not run after the Baals "Run after" (רָדַף, radaph) conveys a sense of pursuit or eager following. The Baals were Canaanite deities, and worshiping them was a direct violation of the first commandment. Historically, the worship of Baal included practices that were detestable to God, such as child sacrifice and ritual prostitution. This phrase highlights the people's eagerness to chase after false gods, despite their covenant with Yahweh. The denial of such actions reflects a deep-seated spiritual blindness and rebellion.See how you behaved in the valley The "valley" likely refers to the Valley of Hinnom, a site notorious for idolatrous practices, including child sacrifices to Molech. The Hebrew word for "behaved" (עָשָׂה, asah) implies actions or deeds. This phrase calls the people to reflect on their actions, which were visible and undeniable. The valley serves as a geographical reminder of their transgressions, a place where their idolatry was most evident.Consider what you have done The word "consider" (רָאָה, ra'ah) in Hebrew means to see or perceive. It is a call to self-examination and acknowledgment of sin. This phrase urges the Israelites to confront the reality of their actions and the consequences that follow. It is an invitation to repentance, to turn back to God and forsake their idolatrous ways.You are a swift she-camel running here and there The imagery of a "swift she-camel" (בִּכְרָה קַלָּה, bikhrah kallah) portrays restlessness and unfaithfulness. Camels were known for their speed and endurance, but here the metaphor suggests a lack of direction and purpose. This reflects Israel's spiritual promiscuity, as they quickly turned from one idol to another, abandoning their true God. The phrase "running here and there" emphasizes their instability and the futility of their pursuits, highlighting the need for a return to steadfast faithfulness to Yahweh.<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/jeremiah/2.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(23) How canst thou say . . .?--The prophet hears, as it were, the voice of the accused criminal, with its plea of "not guilty." Had not the worship of Jehovah been restored by Josiah? Had he not, acting on Hilkiah's counsels, suppressed Baal-worship (<a href="/context/2_kings/23-4.htm" title="And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, and the priests of the second order, and the keepers of the door, to bring forth out of the temple of the LORD all the vessels that were made for Baal, and for the grove, and for all the host of heaven: and he burned them without Jerusalem in the fields of Kidron, and carried the ashes of them to Bethel.">2Kings 23:4-5</a>; <a href="/2_chronicles/34-4.htm" title="And they broke down the altars of Baalim in his presence; and the images, that were on high above them, he cut down; and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he broke in pieces, and made dust of them, and strewed it on the graves of them that had sacrificed to them.">2Chronicles 34:4</a>)? The answer to such pleas is to point to the rites that were still practised openly or in secret. In the "valley" of Ben-Hinnom, which Josiah had defiled (<a href="/2_kings/23-10.htm" title="And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech.">2Kings 23:10</a>), the horrid ritual of Molech (<a href="/leviticus/18-21.htm" title="And you shall not let any of your seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.">Leviticus 18:21</a>; <a href="/leviticus/20-2.htm" title="Again, you shall say to the children of Israel, Whoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that gives any of his seed to Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.">Leviticus 20:2</a>) was still in use (<a href="/jeremiah/7-31.htm" title="And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.">Jeremiah 7:31</a>), reviving, we may believe, on the death of Josiah; and this, though not actually the worship of Baal, was at least as evil, and probably, in the confluence of many forms of worship which marked the last days of the monarchy of Judah, was closely associated and practically identified with it, both by the prophet and the people (<a href="/jeremiah/19-5.htm" title="They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind:">Jeremiah 19:5</a>; <a href="/jeremiah/32-35.htm" title="And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.">Jeremiah 32:35</a>). . . . <div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/jeremiah/2.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div>Verse 23. - How canst thou say, etc.? This is not a mere rhetorical fiction equivalent to "or if thou shouldst perhaps say," but probably represents an objection really made by the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah. Their fault was not in neglecting the public worship of Jehovah in his appointed temple, but in superadding to this, idolatrous rites inconsistent with the spiritual religion taught by Jeremiah. The people did not, it seems, regard this as tantamount to "following Baalim," just as some converts to Christianity in our own foreign missions might exclaim against being accused of apostasy, because they secretly carry on certain heathen practices. The prophet, however, applies a more rigorous test to their conduct. Baalim; the plural of Baal, used for "other gods" (<a href="/jeremiah/1-16.htm">Jeremiah 1:16</a>; comp. on ver. 8). Thy way in the valley. The valley in this context can only be that of Hinnom (see on Jeremiah 7:31), which from the time of Ahaz had been defiled with the rites of "Moloch, horrid king" (see ' Paradise Lost,' 1:392-396). Thou art a swift dromedary. Ewald would attach this half of the verse to ver. 24; and there is something to be said for this plan. Swift dromedary is, properly speaking, in the vocative. The ardor of the people for idolatry is expressed by the comparison of it to the uncontrollable instinct of brute beasts. The word rendered "dromedary" is in the feminine gender; it means strictly the young she-camel which has not yet had a foal. Traversing her ways; rather, interlacing her ways; i.e. running backwards and forwards at the impulse of passion. <a href="/commentaries/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Parallel Commentaries ...</a> <a name="lexicon" id="lexicon"></a><div class="vheading">Hebrew</div>“How אֵ֣יךְ (’êḵ) Interjection <a href="/hebrew/strongs_349.htm">Strong's 349: </a> How?, how!, where can you say, תֹּאמְרִ֞י (tō·mə·rî) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_559.htm">Strong's 559: </a> To utter, say ‘I am not לֹ֣א (lō) Adverb - Negative particle <a href="/hebrew/strongs_3808.htm">Strong's 3808: </a> Not, no defiled; נִטְמֵ֗אתִי (niṭ·mê·ṯî) Verb - Nifal - Perfect - first person common singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_2930.htm">Strong's 2930: </a> To be or become unclean I have not לֹ֣א (lō) Adverb - Negative particle <a href="/hebrew/strongs_3808.htm">Strong's 3808: </a> Not, no run הָלַ֔כְתִּי (hā·laḵ·tî) Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_1980.htm">Strong's 1980: </a> To go, come, walk after אַחֲרֵ֤י (’a·ḥă·rê) Preposition <a href="/hebrew/strongs_310.htm">Strong's 310: </a> The hind or following part the Baals’? הַבְּעָלִים֙ (hab·bə·‘ā·lîm) Article | Noun - masculine plural <a href="/hebrew/strongs_1168.htm">Strong's 1168: </a> Baal -- a heathen god Look רְאִ֤י (rə·’î) Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_7200.htm">Strong's 7200: </a> To see at your behavior דַרְכֵּךְ֙ (ḏar·kêḵ) Noun - common singular construct | second person feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_1870.htm">Strong's 1870: </a> A road, a course of life, mode of action in the valley; בַּגַּ֔יְא (bag·gay) Preposition-b, Article | Noun - common singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_1516.htm">Strong's 1516: </a> A valley acknowledge דְּעִ֖י (də·‘î) Verb - Qal - Imperative - feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_3045.htm">Strong's 3045: </a> To know what מֶ֣ה (meh) Interrogative <a href="/hebrew/strongs_4100.htm">Strong's 4100: </a> What?, what!, indefinitely what you have done. עָשִׂ֑ית (‘ā·śîṯ) Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_6213.htm">Strong's 6213: </a> To do, make You are a swift קַלָּ֖ה (qal·lāh) Adjective - feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_7031.htm">Strong's 7031: </a> Light, swift, fleet young she-camel בִּכְרָ֥ה (biḵ·rāh) Noun - feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_1072.htm">Strong's 1072: </a> A young camel, dromedary galloping here and there, מְשָׂרֶ֥כֶת (mə·śā·re·ḵeṯ) Verb - Piel - Participle - feminine singular <a href="/hebrew/strongs_8308.htm">Strong's 8308: </a> To interlace <div class="vheading">Links</div><a href="/niv/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 NIV</a> <a href="/nlt/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 NLT</a> <a href="/esv/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 ESV</a> <a href="/nasb/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 NASB</a> <a href="/kjv/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 KJV</a> <a href="//bibleapps.com/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 BibleApps.com</a> <a href="//bibliaparalela.com/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 Biblia Paralela</a> <a href="//holybible.com.cn/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 Chinese Bible</a> <a href="//saintebible.com/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 French Bible</a> <a href="/catholic/jeremiah/2-23.htm">Jeremiah 2:23 Catholic Bible</a> <a href="/jeremiah/2-23.htm">OT Prophets: Jeremiah 2:23 How can you say I am not (Jer.) </a></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="/jeremiah/2-22.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Jeremiah 2:22"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Jeremiah 2:22" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="/jeremiah/2-24.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Jeremiah 2:24"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Jeremiah 2:24" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>