Jeremiah 2:23

Amplified Bible

"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,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
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 cameltwisting and turning on her way,

Hebrew Names Version
How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba`alim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: [you are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

King James Version
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;

English Standard Version
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,

New American Standard Bible
"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,

New Century Version
"How can you say to me, ‘I am not guilty. I have not worshiped the Baal idols'? Look at the things you did in the valley. Think about what you have done. You are like a she-camel in mating season that runs from place to place.

World English Bible
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;

Geneva Bible (1587)
Howe canst thou say, I am not polluted, neither haue I followed Baalim? beholde thy waies in the valley, & know, what thou hast done: thou art like a swift dromedarie, that runneth by his waies.

Legacy Standard Bible
"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,

Berean Standard Bible
"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,

Contemporary English Version
You deny your sins and say, "We aren't unclean. We haven't worshiped Baal." But think about what you do in Hinnom Valley. And you run back and forth like young camels, as you rush to worship one idol after another.

Complete Jewish Bible
"How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not pursued the ba‘alim'? Look at your conduct in the valley, understand what you have done. You are a restive young female camel, running here and there,

Darby Translation
How sayest thou, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals? See thy way in the valley, acknowledge what thou hast done—a swift dromedary traversing her ways!

Easy-to-Read Version
"Judah, how can you say to me, ‘I am not guilty because I have not worshiped the Baal idols'? Think about what you did in the valley. Think about what you have done. You are like a fast she-camel that runs from place to place.

George Lamsa Translation
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;

Good News Translation
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,

Lexham English Bible
"How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself, I have not gone after the Baals?' Look at your way in the valley, know what you have done. You are a young she-camel, interweaving her ways.

Literal Translation
How can you say, I am not defiled; I have not gone after Baals? See your way in the valley; know what you have done! You are a swift camel criss-crossing her ways;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Saye not now: I am not vnclene, and I haue not folowed the goddes. Loke vpo thyne owne waies in the woddes, valleis & dennes: so shalt thou knowe, what thou hast done. Thou art like a swift Dromedary, that goeth easely his waye:

American Standard Version
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;

Bible in Basic English
How are you able to say, I am not unclean, I have not gone after the Baals? see your way in the valley, be clear about what you have done: you are a quick-footed camel twisting her way in and out;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
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;

King James Version (1611)
How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I haue not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedarie trauersing her wayes.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Howe sayest thou nowe, I am not vncleane, and I haue not folowed Baalim? Loke vpon thine owne wayes in the valleys what thou hast done? Thou art like a swift dromedarie that goeth easyly her way.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
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:

English Revised Version
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;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Hou seist thou, Y am not defoulid, Y yede not aftir Baalym? Se thi weies in the greet valei, wite thou what thou hast do; a swifte rennere ordeynynge hise weies.

Update Bible Version
How can you say, I am not defiled, I haven't gone after the Baalim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: [you are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;

Webster's Bible Translation
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;

New English Translation
"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.

New King James Version
"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,

New Living Translation
"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.

New Life Bible
"How can you say, ‘I am clean. I have not gone after the false gods of Baal'? Look at what you did in the valley! Know what you have done! You are like a wild young camel wanting to mate.

New Revised Standard
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,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
How canst thou say, I have not defiled myself, After the Baalim, have I not gone? See thy way, in the valley, Own what thou hast done, - A nimble young she-camel, crossing her own ways;

Douay-Rheims Bible
How canst thou say: I am not polluted, I have not walked after Baalim? see thy ways in the valley, know what thou hast done: as a swift runner pursuing his course.

Revised Standard Version
How can you say, 'I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba'als'? Look at your way in the valley; know what you have done--a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,

Young's Literal Translation
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,

THE MESSAGE
"How dare you tell me, ‘I'm not stained by sin. I've never chased after the Baal sex gods'! Well, look at the tracks you've left behind in the valley. How do you account for what is written in the desert dust— Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that, tracks of a wild donkey in rut, Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex. Who could possibly corral her! On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex— insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"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,

Contextual Overview

²⁰"For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience] And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you]; You said, 'I will not serve and obey You!' For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute. ²¹"Yet I had planted you [O house of Israel as] a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned against Me Into degenerate shoots of a foreign and wild vine [alien to Me]? ²²"For though you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your guilt is [still] before Me [and you are soiled and dirty]," says the Lord GOD. ²³"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,²⁴Or [you have the untamed and reckless nature of] a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion [for the scent of a mate]. In her mating season who can restrain her? No males seeking her need to weary themselves; In her month they will find her [looking for them]. ²⁵"[Cease your mad running after idols to] Keep your feet from becoming bare And your throat from becoming dry; But you said, 'It is hopeless! For I have loved strangers and foreign gods, And I will walk after them.' ²⁶"As the thief is shamed when he is caught, So the house of Israel is shamed— They, their kings, their leaders, Their priests, and their prophets— ²⁷Who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' And to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their backs to Me, And not their faces; But in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise [O LORD] and save us.' ²⁸"But where are your gods Which you made for yourself? Let them get up, if they can save you In the time of your trouble! For [as many as] the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah. [Why do not your many man-made idols run to help you?]

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

How canst: Jeremiah 2:34, Jeremiah 2:35, Genesis 3:12, Genesis 3:13, 1 Samuel 15:13, 1 Samuel 15:14, Psalms 36:2, Proverbs 28:13, Proverbs 30:12, Proverbs 30:20, Luke 10:29, Romans 3:19, 1 John 1:8-10, Revelation 3:17, Revelation 3:18

see: Jeremiah 3:2, Psalms 50:21, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 23:1-49

valley: Jeremiah 7:31, Isaiah 57:5, Isaiah 57:6

thou art a swift: or, O swift, Esther 8:16

Reciprocal: Judges 2:11 - and served Baalim 2 Samuel 11:12 - General 2 Samuel 14:32 - if there 2 Chronicles 17:3 - sought Esther 8:10 - young dromedaries Psalms 32:5 - have Proverbs 16:2 - the ways Jeremiah 2:29 - will ye plead Jeremiah 2:33 - Why Jeremiah 2:36 - gaddest Jeremiah 3:1 - but thou hast Jeremiah 14:10 - have they Jeremiah 31:22 - How Ezekiel 16:25 - at every Hosea 2:13 - she went Hosea 12:8 - they Matthew 22:12 - And he was Matthew 25:44 - when John 14:9 - how

Cross-References

Genesis 2:8
And the LORD God planted a garden (oasis) in the east, in Eden (delight, land of happiness); and He put the man whom He had formed (created) there.

Genesis 2:9
And [in that garden] the LORD God caused to grow from the ground every tree that is desirable and pleasing to the sight and good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the [experiential] knowledge (recognition) of [the difference between] good and evil.

Genesis 29:14
Then Laban said to him, "You are my bone and my flesh." And Jacob stayed with him a month.

Judges 9:2
"Speak now in the hearing of all the leaders of Shechem, 'Which is better for you, that seventy men, all of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one man rule over you?' Also, remember that I am your own bone and flesh."

2 Samuel 5:1
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh.

2 Samuel 19:13
"Say to Amasa [the commander of Absalom's troops], 'Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you will not be commander of my army from now on in place of Joab.'"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

How canst thou say, I am not polluted,.... No man can say this; for all are defiled with sin; but this was the cast and complexion of these people in all ages; they were a generation of men that were pure in their own eyes, but were not cleansed from their filthiness; they fancied that their ceremonial washings and sacrifices cleansed them from moral impurities, when those only sanctified to the purifying of the flesh; still their iniquity remained marked before the Lord; they acted the part of the adulterous woman in Proverbs 30:20 to whom they are compared in the context; and, therefore, as wondering at their impudence, they having a whore's forehead, this question is put, how and with what face they could affirm this, and what follows:

I have not gone after Baalim? or, "the Baalim"; the idols of the people, as the Targum interprets it; for there were many Baals, as Baalzephon, Baalpeor, Baalzebub, and others:

see thy way in the valley; where idols were set up and worshipped; or through which the way lay, as Kimchi observes, to the hills and mountains where idolatry was frequently committed; perhaps no particular valley is meant, but any in which idols were worshipped, or which they passed through to the worshipping of them; though the Targum interprets it of the valley in which they dwelt, over against Baalpeor, so Jarchi and Abarbinel, when they worshipped that idol; and seems to design the valley of Shittim, Numbers 25:1, but rather, if any particular valley is intended, the valley of Hinnom seems to bid fair for it; and to this it may be the Septuagint version has respect, rendering it εν τω πολυανδριω, "in the sepulchre of the multitude"; multitudes being burnt and buried here:

know what thou hast done; in the valley, especially in the valley of Hinnom, where they caused their children to pass through the fire to Molech:

thou art a swift dromedary. The Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret it a young camel; and so the word in the Arabic language signifies; and the epithet "swift" better agrees with that than with the dromedary. Curtius z makes mention of dromedary camels of great swiftness; but it may be this is to be understood, not of its swiftness in running, but of its impetuous lust, as Calvin observes; and, indeed, each of these creatures are very libidinous; and therefore these people are compared to them; Numbers 25:1- :, it follows:

traversing her ways; running about here and there after the male, burning with lust, sometimes one way, and sometimes another; and so these people sometimes run after one idol, and sometimes another, and followed a multitude of them. The Targum renders it, "which corrupts or depraves her ways". De Dieu observes, that the word שרך, in the Ethiopic language, signifies "the evening"; and so may intend walking in the evening, in the dark, rather than in the light; which, as it is the way of dromedaries, and almost of all beasts, so of harlots, to whom these people are likened; and he further observes, that, in the Arabic language, it signifies to make common, which agrees with adulterous persons, as these were in a spiritual sense. The word is only used in this place, and is deduced from, or has some relation to, the word שרוך, which signifies a "shoelatchet", Genesis 14:23 as Jarchi and Kimchi observe; and may denote, as the shoe is bound and fastened with the latchet, the binding of her ways to her heart, as the former suggests, the strengthening and confirming of her in her evil ways, and her constant persisting therein; but the first sense of running here and there through lust is best; and is approved by Bynaeus a and by Buxtorf b.

z (Curtius) L. 5. c. 2. a De Calceis Heb. l. 1. c. 7. sect. 4. b Lex. Heb. rad. שרך.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In their defense of themselves (compare Jeremiah 2:35), the people probably appealed to the maintenance of the daily sacrifice, and the Mosaic ritual: and even more confidently perhaps to Josiah’s splendid restoration of the temple, and to the suppression of the open worship of Baal. All such pleas availed little as long as the rites of Moloch were still privately practiced.

Thy way in the valley - i. e., of Hinnom (see 2 Kings 23:10 note). From the time of Ahaz it had been the seat of the worship of Moloch, and the prophet more than once identifies Moloch with Baal. “Way” is put metaphorically for “conduct, doings.”

Traversing - Interlacing her ways. The word describes the tangled mazes of the dromedary’s course, as she runs here and there in the heat of her passion.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 2:23. See thy way in the valley — The valley of Hinnom, where they offered their own children to Moloch, an idol of the Ammonites.

A swift dromedary traversing her ways — Dr. Blayney translates, "A fleet dromedary that hath taken to company with her."

Dr. Dahler rather paraphrases, thus: -

Semblable a une dromedaire en chaleur,

Qui court d'une tote a l'autre.

"Like to a dromedary in her desire for the male,

Which runs hither and thither."

This is an energetic comparison; and shows the unbridled attachment of those bad people to idolatry, and the abominable practices by which it was usually accompanied.