Commentary on Jeremiah Volume 1 John Calvin
Chapter
Jeremiah 2:1-2 1. Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 1. Et fuit sermo Jehovae ad me, dicendo, 2. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
2. Vade et clama ad aures Jerusalem, dicendo, Sic dicit Jehova, Recordatus sum tui propter misericordiam adolescentiae tuae et dilectionem desponsationis tuae, quum me sequuta es (quum venisti post me, profecta es post me) in deserto, in terra non seminata.
God now mentions to his servant the commands which he was to convey to the king and priests, and to the whole people; for by the ears of Jerusalem he means all its inhabitants. God here intimates that the Jews were unworthy of being cared for by him any more; but that he is induced by another reason not to reject them wholly, until he had found out by experience their irreclaimable wickedness. So then he makes this preface, I remember thee for the kindness of thy youth, and the love of thy espousals In these words he shews that he regarded not what the Jews deserved, nor acknowledged any worthiness in them, as the reason why he was solicitous for their salvation, and endeavored to bring them to the right way by the labors of his Prophet, but that this is to be ascribed to his former benefits.
Some render the words, "I remember the piety or kindness of thy youth;" and {}לךlak, may be thus taken, as it is in other places. Others omit this word; while others consider a copulative to be understood, "I remember thee, and the kindness of thy youth." But none, as I think, have attained to the meaning of the Prophet: there is yet no obscurity in the words, if a