Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 11:15

"What hath my beloved to do in my house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness [with] many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest." — Jeremiah 11:15 (ASV)

My beloved. — Namely, Judah—or, perhaps, Israel collectively—as the betrothed of Jehovah. What has she to do, what part or lot has she in that house of Jehovah which she pollutes?

Seeing she has committed lewdness with many. — The Hebrew is difficult, and probably corrupt. The most probable rendering is What has my beloved to do in my house, to work it even evil devices? Your many, i.e. (probably, as in Jeremiah 3:1), your many lovers, and the holy flesh (i.e., her sacrifices), will they make it (the guilt of her devices) to pass away from you?

Keeping the present Hebrew text, the latter clause would run, they shall pass away from you, i.e., shall leave you, as you were, unreconciled and unforgiven. A conjectural emendation, following the Septuagint, gives, will your vows and the holy flesh remove your evil from you...

The general sense, however, is clear: a religion of mere ritual—sacrifices and the like—will not avail to save.

The Hebrew for “lewdness” does not convey the idea which we now attach to the English word, but means primarily a plan of any kind, and then a “device” or “scheme” in a bad sense, as in Psalms 10:2; Psalms 21:11; Proverbs 14:17. Probably the translators, here, as in Acts 17:5; Acts 18:14, used the word in this more general sense. Indeed, primarily, “lewd” in Old English was simply the opposite of “learned.”

When you do evil, then you rejoice. — The clause is involved in the same difficulty as the rest of the verse. The English version is tenable and gives an adequate meaning. By some commentators, however, the passage is rendered, referring evil to the previous sentence: Will they (vows, etc.) remove evil from you? Then might you rejoice.