How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.
It would not be consistent with God's holiness to let such wickedness pass unpunished. It would not be consistent with God's holiness to let such wickedness pass unpunished.
Sworn by - (Jeremiah 5:2; Jeremiah 4:2); i:e., worshipped.
No gods - (Deuteronomy 32:21, "They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; ... and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people:" 'retribution in kind').
Fed ... to the full - so the Qeri' (Hebrew margin) reads. God's bountifulness is contrasted with their apostasy (Deuteronomy 32:15). Prosperity, the gift of God, designed to lead men to Him, often produces the opposite effect. The Hebrew Kethibh, (text) reads: 'I bound them (to me) by oath' [waa'ashibia`, instead of waa'asbia` (H7650)] - namely, in the marriage covenant, sealed at Sinai between God and Israel; in contrast to which stands their "adultery:" this antithesis favours this.
When I fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses - spiritually: idolatry in temples of idols; but literal prostitution is also included, being frequently part of idol worship-e.g., in the worship of the Babylonian Mylitta.