John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 32:31

"For this city hath been to me a provocation of mine anger and of my wrath from the day that they built it even unto this day; that I should remove it from before my face," — Jeremiah 32:31 (ASV)

He confirms what we have just said, namely that God, however severely He might punish the Jews, would still not exceed due limits in His judgment, because their iniquity had reached the highest pitch. It was a terrible judgment when the city was completely demolished by fire, and the Temple destroyed.

Hence, the atrocity of the punishment might have led many to complain that God was too severe. Here He checks all such complaints and says that the city had been built, so to speak, for this purpose: to provoke Him, as we say in French, Elle a este faite pour me depiter, pour me facher. Some read, “Reduced to me has been the city,” but they pervert and obscure the meaning. It might more properly be rendered, “The city has been destined to me for my wrath and indignation.” But the meaning I have given is simpler.

Thus, the words אפי, aphi, and חמתי, chemeti, are to be taken passively, meaning that the city Jerusalem had been, in a way, devoted to this madness, so that it did not cease to inflame God’s vengeance against itself more and more. In short, He repeats in other words what He had said before: that the children of Israel did nothing else but provoke God by their misdeeds.

So, nothing new is said here, but as it was something difficult to believe, the Prophet dwells on it and says that the city Jerusalem had been for the wrath and indignation of God from the time it had been founded. And we may gather from the end of the verse that this is the true meaning, for He says, Even to this day, that I should remove it from my sight; as though He had said that the Jews had made no end of sinning, so that it was now truly the time to punish such a wicked people, whose impiety was incurable.

And He points out their persistence when He says, even to this day. For the people had not only begun to sin in the wilderness, but they also pursued their impiety in a regular course, so to speak, so that at no age, in no year, and on no day, did they cease from their vices. Thus, their constant habit of sinning is pointed out here.