Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves - instead of forsaking the idolatries of their fathers they keep them up (Jeremiah 7:18). This is given as proof that their sin is "graven upon ... altars" (Jeremiah 17:1),
i.e., is not merely temporary. They corrupt their posterity, after them Castalio, less probably translates, 'They remember their altars as (fondly as) they do their children.'
Groves - rather, images of Astarte, the goddess of the heavenly hosts, represented as a sacred tree, such as is seen in the Assyrian sculptures (2 Kings 21:7, "Image of the grove;" 2 Chronicles 24:18). The Hebrew for "grove" is Asheerah, i:e., Assarak, Astarte, or Ashtaroth.
By the green trees - i:e., near them; the sacred trees (idol symbols) of Astarte being placed in the midst of natural trees: 'green trees' is thus distinguished from "groves," artificial trees. Henderson, to avoid taking the same Hebrew particle х `al (H5921)] in the same sentence differently, "by ... upon," translates, 'images of Astarte on the green trees. But it is not probable that images in the form of a sacred tree should be hung on trees rather than near them.