John Calvin 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)

They further confirm the same complaint: that God had by clear proofs shown the sins of the nation, for He had consumed their labor—that is, whatever they had acquired by labor. He also adds sheep and cattle, and then sons and daughters.

He does not, indeed, ascribe this consumption to God; rather, the way of speaking is more emphatic when he says, Shame has consumed the labor of our fathers from our childhood: for by shame he understands wickedness, of which they ought to have been ashamed.

The meaning, then, is that all the evils they had endured could be accounted for in no other way, since the whole was to be ascribed to their wickedness. Our shame, then—that is, our wickedness—has consumed the labor of our fathers.