John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 2:29

"Wherefore will ye contend with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith Jehovah." — Jeremiah 2:29 (ASV)

Jeremiah concludes his previous subject here: he says that the Jews gained nothing by protesting their innocence before God or by thinking they could escape His judgment with mere words, and even went so far in their presumption as to challenge God Himself and attempt to prove Him guilty. But God answers them with one word, declaring that they were faithless. The meaning then is that the Jews acted against their own best interests by hardening themselves in their stubbornness, for God would hold them fully convicted of their impiety, so that they vainly offered this or that excuse.

Now this passage deserves special attention, for we know how naturally prone we are to hypocrisy. When God summons us to His judgment seat, hardly one in a hundred will acknowledge their guilt and humbly pray for forgiveness; instead, most complain—indeed, almost all murmur against God—and furthermore, they grow bold and proudly dare to challenge and defy Him. Since, then, hypocrisy so prevails in us and is deeply fixed in the hearts of almost everyone, and since hypocrisy breeds insolence and pride against God, let us remember what the Prophet says here: all who contend with God gain nothing by their excuses, because He will in the end detect their rebellion and faithlessness.