Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 3:24

"But the shameful thing hath devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters." — Jeremiah 3:24 (ASV)

Shame.—The Hebrew noun has the article, “the shame,” and is the word constantly used as the interchangeable synonym for Baal, as in Jerubbaal and Jerubbesheth (Judges 6:32; 2 Samuel 11:21), Mephibosheth and Merib-baal (2 Samuel 4:4; 1 Chronicles 8:34). The words point accordingly to the prodigal waste of victims, possibly of human life also, in the worship of Baal and that of Molech, which in the prophet’s mind was identified with it, and which had brought with it nothing but a lasting shame. This also forms part of the confession of the repentant people .