Intertextuality Pair

Jeremiah 2:5 → Deuteronomy 32:4

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

Deuteronomy 32:4BSB

He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

Significance

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.

Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Allusion
Connection Method(s)
Analogy — Jeremiah redeploys the Song's verdict that God is without עָוֶל to indict Israel by the same standard; the opposition is between Israel's conduct and the Song's testimony, not between the two texts' messages, so the demonstrated method is Analogy rather than Contrast.

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