For 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.
I. The Hebrew should he pointed as the second person feminine, a form common in Jeremiah: 'Thou hast broken ... burst,' [shaabarteey ... nitaqtªy) - not as the English version reads shaabaritiy ... nitaqtiy]. So Septuagint, and the sense requires it.
Thy yoke ... bands - the yoke and bands which I laid on thee, my laws (Jeremiah 5:5). Which passage confirms the reading, 'Thou hast broken the yoke ... burst thy bonds,' not "I have," etc.
Transgress - [so the Qeri' and many manuscript read 'e`ªbowr (H5674)]: so the Chaldaic version. But the Septuagint and most authorities read, 'I will not serve' - i:e., obey, ['e`ªbod]. The sense of the English version is, 'I broke thy yoke (in Egypt), etc., and (at that time) thou saidst, I will not transgress; whereas thou hast (since then) wandered' (from me) (Exodus 19:8).
Hill ... green tree - the scene of idolatries (Deuteronomy 12:2; Isaiah 57:5; Isaiah 57:7).
Wanderest - rather, 'thou hast bowed down thyself' (for the act of adultery: figurative of shameless idolatry; Exodus 34:15 (cf. Job 31:10).