Jeremiah 2:29
New International Version
“Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD.

New Living Translation
Why do you accuse me of doing wrong? You are the ones who have rebelled,” says the LORD.

English Standard Version
“Why do you contend with me? You have all transgressed against me, declares the LORD.

Berean Standard Bible
Why do you bring a case against Me? You have all rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

King James Bible
Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

New King James Version
“Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the LORD.

New American Standard Bible
“Why do you contend with Me? You have all revolted against Me,” declares the LORD.

NASB 1995
“Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me,” declares the LORD.

NASB 1977
“Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me,” declares the LORD.

Legacy Standard Bible
“Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me,” declares Yahweh.

Amplified Bible
“Why do you complain and contend with Me? You have all rebelled (transgressed) against Me,” says the LORD.

Christian Standard Bible
Why do you bring a case against me? All of you have rebelled against me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Why do you bring a case against Me? All of you have rebelled against Me. This is the LORD’s declaration.

American Standard Version
Wherefore will ye contend with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith Jehovah.

Contemporary English Version
The LORD said to Israel: You accuse me of not saving you, but I say you have rebelled.

English Revised Version
Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
"Why do you complain about me? All of you have rebelled against me," declares the LORD.

Good News Translation
What is your complaint? Why have you rebelled against me?

International Standard Version
Why do you contend with me? You have rebelled against me," declares the LORD.

Majority Standard Bible
Why do you bring a case against Me? You have all rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

NET Bible
"Why do you try to refute me? All of you have rebelled against me," says the LORD.

New Heart English Bible
"Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me," says the LORD.

Webster's Bible Translation
Why will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.

World English Bible
“Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me,” says Yahweh.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Why do you strive with Me? All of you have transgressed against Me,” "" A declaration of YHWH.

Young's Literal Translation
Why do ye strive with Me? All of you have transgressed against Me, An affirmation of Jehovah.

Smith's Literal Translation
Wherefore will ye contend against me? all ye transgressed against me, says Jehovah.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Why will you contend with me in judgement? you have all forsaken me, saith the Lord.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Why do you want to contend against me in judgment? You have all forsaken me, says the Lord.

New American Bible
Why are you arguing with me? You have all rebelled against me—oracle of the LORD.

New Revised Standard Version
Why do you complain against me? You have all rebelled against me, says the LORD.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Why then do you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me, says the LORD.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Why do you judge with me, all of you? You have been false with me, says LORD JEHOVAH
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
Wherefore will ye contend with Me? Ye all have transgressed against Me, Saith the LORD.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Wherefore do ye speak unto me? ye all have been ungodly, and ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel's Unfaithfulness
28But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah. 29Why do you bring a case against Me? You have all rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD. 30“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”…

Cross References
Isaiah 1:18-20
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool. / If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. / But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Hosea 4:1-2
Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land! / Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.

Micah 6:1-2
Hear now what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. / Hear, O mountains, the LORD’s indictment, you enduring foundations of the earth. For the LORD has a case against His people, and He will argue it against Israel:

Ezekiel 18:25-30
Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? / If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, he will die for this. He will die because of the iniquity he has committed. / But if a wicked man turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life. ...

Malachi 3:13-15
“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’ / You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the LORD of Hosts? / So now we call the arrogant blessed. Not only do evildoers prosper, they even test God and escape.’”

Isaiah 43:26-28
Remind Me, let us argue the matter together. State your case, so that you may be vindicated. / Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against Me. / So I will disgrace the princes of your sanctuary, and I will devote Jacob to destruction and Israel to reproach.”

Amos 3:1-2
Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: / “Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

Isaiah 5:3-4
“And now, O dwellers of Jerusalem and men of Judah, I exhort you to judge between Me and My vineyard. / What more could have been done for My vineyard than I have done for it? Why, when I expected sweet grapes, did it bring forth sour fruit?

Matthew 23:29-33
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. / And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ / So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. ...

Romans 2:1-5
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. / And we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. / So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? ...

John 8:43-47
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. / You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies. / But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me! ...

Matthew 21:33-41
Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. Then he rented it out to some tenants and went away on a journey. / When the harvest time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit. / But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. ...

Luke 11:47-51
Woe to you! For you build tombs for the prophets, but it was your fathers who killed them. / So you are witnesses consenting to the deeds of your fathers: They killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. / Because of this, the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles; some of them they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ...

Acts 7:51-53
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did. / Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers— / you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”

Romans 9:19-21
One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” / But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” / Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?


Treasury of Scripture

Why will you plead with me? you all have transgressed against me, said the LORD.

will ye plead

Jeremiah 2:23,35
How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; …

Jeremiah 3:2
Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

ye all have

Jeremiah 5:1
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Jeremiah 6:13
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

Jeremiah 9:2-6
Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men…

Jump to Previous
Affirmation Cause Charges Complain Contend Declares Evil Forward Plead Rebelled Strive Transgressed Wherefore
Jump to Next
Affirmation Cause Charges Complain Contend Declares Evil Forward Plead Rebelled Strive Transgressed Wherefore
Jeremiah 2
1. God having shown his former kindness,
5. expostulates with the people on their causeless and unexampled revolt
14. They are the causes of their own calamities
18. The sins and idolatries of Judah
35. Her confidence is rejected.














Why do you bring a case against Me?
This phrase opens with a rhetorical question posed by God through the prophet Jeremiah. The Hebrew root for "bring a case" is "רִיב" (riv), which means to contend, dispute, or plead. In the ancient Near Eastern context, this term was often used in legal settings, suggesting a formal accusation or lawsuit. Here, God is challenging the Israelites' audacity to accuse Him of wrongdoing. Historically, Israel had a covenant relationship with God, akin to a legal contract, where God was the suzerain and Israel the vassal. This question highlights the absurdity of the vassal accusing the suzerain, especially when the suzerain has been faithful.

You have all rebelled against Me
The word "rebelled" comes from the Hebrew "פָּשַׁע" (pasha), meaning to transgress or revolt. This term is often used in the context of breaking a covenant or treaty. In the historical context of Israel, rebellion against God was not just a personal failing but a national crisis, as it involved turning away from the covenantal laws and worship practices that defined their identity as God's chosen people. The use of "all" emphasizes the collective nature of this rebellion, indicating that it was not just a few individuals but the entire nation that had turned away from God. This rebellion is a recurring theme in the prophetic literature, where the prophets call the people back to faithfulness and warn of the consequences of their disobedience.

declares the LORD
This phrase is a common prophetic formula in the Hebrew Bible, often used to assert the divine authority behind the message. The Hebrew word for "declares" is "נְאֻם" (ne'um), which signifies a solemn pronouncement. The use of "the LORD" (YHWH) underscores the covenantal name of God, reminding the Israelites of the personal and relational nature of their God. In the conservative Christian perspective, this declaration is a reminder of God's unchanging nature and His rightful authority to judge and correct His people. It serves as both a warning and an invitation to return to the covenant relationship with Him. The phrase assures the reader of the authenticity and seriousness of the message, as it comes directly from the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of the universe.

(29) Wherefore will ye plead with me?--The reply of the accuser to the false pleas of the accused. The transgression was too open to be glossed over. No plea was available but that of a full confession of the guilt into which Israel had fallen.

Verse 29. - Wherefore will ye plead with me? How can ye be so brazen-faced as to attempt to justify yourselves?

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Why
לָ֥מָּה (lām·māh)
Interrogative
Strong's 4100: What?, what!, indefinitely what

do you bring a case
תָרִ֖יבוּ (ṯā·rî·ḇū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 7378: To toss, grapple, to wrangle, controversy, to defend

against Me?
אֵלָ֑י (’ê·lāy)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

You have all
כֻּלְּכֶ֛ם (kul·lə·ḵem)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine plural
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

rebelled against Me,”
פְּשַׁעְתֶּ֥ם (pə·ša‘·tem)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 6586: To break away, trespass, apostatize, quarrel

declares
נְאֻם־ (nə·’um-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5002: An oracle

the LORD.
יְהוָֽה׃ (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel


Links
Jeremiah 2:29 NIV
Jeremiah 2:29 NLT
Jeremiah 2:29 ESV
Jeremiah 2:29 NASB
Jeremiah 2:29 KJV

Jeremiah 2:29 BibleApps.com
Jeremiah 2:29 Biblia Paralela
Jeremiah 2:29 Chinese Bible
Jeremiah 2:29 French Bible
Jeremiah 2:29 Catholic Bible

OT Prophets: Jeremiah 2:29 Why will you contend with me? You (Jer.)
Jeremiah 2:28
Top of Page
Top of Page