5
ThusכֹּהsaysאָמַרYHWH:יְהוָה“Whatמַהinjusticeעָוֶלdid your fathersאֲבוֹתֵיכֶםfindמָּצְאוּin me,בִּיthatכִּיthey went farרָחֲקוּfrom meמֵעָלָיand walkedוַיֵּלְכוּafterאַחֲרֵיvaporהַהֶבֶלand became vapor?וַיֶּהְבָּלוּ
Jeremiah 2:5
Study it in the app“Thus says YHWH: “What injustice did your fathers find in me, that they went far from me and walked after vapor and became vapor?”
With the Hebrew beneath
Jeremiah 2:5, word by word
- saysאָמַרamar
say
To say with the mouth to someone what one thinks or wants, or to answer him.
Where else “amar” appears- YHWHיְהוָהyehva
YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
Where else “yehva” appears- injusticeעָוֶלavel
injustice, wrong
Injustice; what is crooked, what is not right.
Where else “avel” appears- did your fathersאֲבוֹתֵיavote
forefather
Ancestors, those who came before in the family.
Where else “avote” appears- findמָּצְאוּmatsu
find
To come upon what one seeks, or something not expected.
Where else “matsu” appears- they went farרָחֲקוּrachaku
be far
To be distant: "do not stay away from me".
Where else “rachaku” appears- and walkedיֵּלְכוּyelchu
walk
To conduct oneself day by day in a certain way, as one walks along a road.
Where else “yelchu” appears- vaporהֶבֶלhevel
vapor
A breath that passes and does not last; that brief is everything.
Where else “hevel” appears- and became vaporיֶּהְבָּלוּyehbalu
become vain
To become vain, to become empty; it comes from the word "vapor, breath." Said of one who puts his trust in what is nothing and ends up like it (2 Kings 17:15; Jeremiah 2:5), and also of speaking or hoping in vain (Job 27:12; Psalm 62:10).
Where else “yehbalu” appears
Translation note
“Vapor”: the idols, which have no substance; the same word as in Ecclesiastes.
The context
4Hear the word of YHWH, house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.
5 · This verse (above)
6And they did not say, ‘Where is YHWH, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of steppe and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land through which no man passed and where no human being lived?’