Charles Spurgeon Commentary Jeremiah 2:7-8

"And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. The priests said not, Where is Jehovah? and they that handle the law knew me not: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit." — Jeremiah 2:7-8 (ASV)

And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof, and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

Was it not very shameful that in Canaan, which God had chosen beyond all other countries for its fertility so that he might give it to his own people forever, they began there to set up idols and altars to other gods? And the priests, whose lips ought to have kept knowledge, and the prophets, who above all others were bound to have spoken in the name of the Lord, joined the people in their sin.

They even urged them to worship Baal – that dummy deity, unworthy of a moment's respect, who should not have even been thought of by God's people. They ought not even to have taken the name of Baal upon their lips. Do you not see yourselves here, O backsliders?

If you ever knew the Lord and have gone back to the world, if you have submitted yourselves again to the powers of it, and sinned with a high hand, have you not acted most shamefully towards your God? And ought you not, with a blushing face and weeping eyes, to return to him and ask mercy at his hands?