Jeremiah 2:26-28

2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,

so the people of Israel ¹  will suffer dishonor for what they have done. ² 

So will their kings and officials,

their priests and their prophets.

2:27 They say to a wooden idol, ³  ‘You are my father.’

They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’ ⁴ 

Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ⁵ 

Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

2:28 But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them save you when you are in trouble.

The sad fact is that ⁶  you have as many gods

as you have towns, Judah.

[2:26]  ¹ tn Heb “house of Israel.”

[2:26]  ² tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:27]  ³ tn Heb “wood…stone…”

[2:27]  ⁴ sn The reference to wood and stone is, of course, a pejorative reference to idols made by human hands. See the next verse where reference is made to “the gods you have made.”

[2:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.”

[2:28]  ⁵ tn This is an attempt to render the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki, “for, indeed”) contextually.