Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 2:20

"For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thyself, playing the harlot." — Jeremiah 2:20 (ASV)

I have broken your yoke.—Better, with the Septuagint and Vulgate, you have broken your yoke — that is, cast off all allegiance and restraint. The Authorized Version, which follows the received Hebrew reading, may, however, be understood as referring to the deliverance of Israel from their Egyptian bondage.

You said, I will not transgress —Perhaps, following a various reading adopted by the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Luther, I will not serve. The words so taken paint vividly the willful defiance of the rebellious nation. It threw off its allegiance. If we retain the Authorized Version rendering, it would be better to take the verb in the present, I transgress not, as expressing a like defiance.

When. —Better, for, as giving an illustration of the rebellious temper. The “high hill” and the “green tree” point to the localities of idol-worship—the “high places” that meet us so frequently in 1 Kings and 2 Kings, the “tops of the mountains,” and the “oaks and poplars and elms” of Hosea 4:13. Tree-worship in Judea, as elsewhere, appears to have exercised a wonderful power of fascination, and though the word translated “grove” (Asherah) has not that meaning, it was probably connected with the same cultus.

Playing the harlot. —Literally, laying yourself down. The idolatrous prostration was as an act of spiritual prostitution, often, as in the orgiastic worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, united with actual impurity.