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Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
Jeremiah 17:2 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Even their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills.
  • BSB Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles by the green trees and on the high hills.
  • NKJV While their children remember Their altars and their wooden images By the green trees on the high hills.
  • NASB As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills.
  • NLT Even their children go to worship at their pagan altars and Asherah poles, beneath every green tree and on every high hill.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Even their children remember the idolatrous altars and Asherah poles set up by green trees on the high hills. Idolatry has so saturated the culture that it is passed down to the next generation.

Overview

The persistence of pagan worship sites, remembered even by the children, shows how thoroughly idolatry had taken root in Judah's families and land. Such inherited devotion to false gods deepened the nation's guilt. It warns that sin readily passes to the next generation and underscores the need for hearts transformed by grace, so that children may be raised to know the true God in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • 2 Chr 24:18And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.
  • Jer 2:20For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
  • Judg 3:7And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and forgat the LORD their God, and served Baalim and the groves.
  • Isa 1:29For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen.
  • 2 Chr 33:3For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
  • Isa 17:8And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.
  • Hos 4:13–14They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under oaks and poplars and elms, because the shadow thereof is good: therefore your daughters shall commit whoredom, and your spouses shall commit adultery.
  • Ezek 20:28For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.
  • 2 Chr 33:19His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sins, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.
  • Ps 78:58For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
  • Jer 7:18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Jeremiah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Jeremiah 17:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JeremiahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.

How Jeremiah 17:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.