Later text
Jeremiah 2:5BSB
This is what the LORD says: "What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Jeremiah 2:5BSB
This is what the LORD says: "What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
Earlier text
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
Jeremiah 2:5 asks "What fault did your fathers find in Me?" (מַה־מָּצְאוּ אֲבוֹתֵיכֶם בִּי עָוֶל, mah-mats'u avotekhem bi avel), echoing by contrast the Song of Moses's declaration in Deuteronomy 32:4 that God is "a God of faithfulness without injustice" (אֵל אֱמוּנָה וְאֵין עָוֶל, El emunah ve'ein avel). Both texts use the term עָוֶל (avel, "injustice/wrong") to frame the question of God's character. Deuteronomy 32 affirms that no wrong can be found in God; Jeremiah challenges Israel to identify any wrong that would justify their departure. The rhetorical echo exposes the absurdity of Israel's apostasy: the Song itself testified that God is without fault, yet the generations that followed abandoned Him as if He had failed them. Deuteronomy 32:4 grounds this claim by naming God "the Rock" (הַצּוּר, hatsur) whose work is perfect, the very title Jeremiah's rhetorical question implicitly calls into question.