“Then you shall say to them.
Says Yahweh.
‘It is because your ancestors
Have forsaken me.
They have gone after other gods.
They have served them.
They have worshiped them.
They have forsaken me.
They have not kept my law.
However you have behaved worse
Than your ancestors.
Here you are,
Every one of you,
Following your stubborn evil will.
You refuse to listen to me.
Therefore I will hurl you
Out of this land,
Into a land
That neither you,
Nor your ancestors,
Have known.
There you shall serve other gods
Day and night.
I will show you no favor.’”
Jeremiah received his explanation of why this disaster was to come from Yahweh. The problem was twofold, their ancestors and they themselves. First of all, their ancestors had forsaken Yahweh, since they served and worshipped other gods. They did not keep Yahweh’s law. However, the current Israelites were even worse than their ancestors. Jeremiah’s contemporaries refused to listen to him. Instead they followed their own stubborn evil ways. The result of this was that the current people of Judah and Jerusalem would be thrown out of this Promised Land into another country. There they would serve other gods, day and night, in a land that was foreign to them and their ancestors. Yahweh was in no mood to show any favors.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 