Why does it matter that they "did not catch them breaking in"? (Jeremiah 2:34)
Jeremiah 2:34
On your clothes is found
the lifeblood of the innocent poor,
though you did not catch them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all this
35
you say, ‘I am innocent;
he is not angry with me.’
But I will pass judgment on you
because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
34
The stain of the blood of the poor and the innocent is on your clothes
Even though you didn’t find them breaking into your houses.
In spite of it all,
35
Still you dare to say, “I am innocent;
surely God could not be angry with me anymore.”
Yet watch as I condemn you
because you perjure yourself saying, “I have not sinned.” (The Voice Bible)
Jeremiah 2:1 - 37
ESV - 1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying. 2 Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
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Asked August 14 2022
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Jack Gutknecht
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Tim Maas
In my opinion, the passage is saying that, if the inhabitants of Jerusalem had caught the poor breaking into their homes, it would have given those inhabitants a valid excuse from a legal standpoint for shedding the blood of the poor in the process of repelling them. However, that was not the case. Those living in Jerusalem were shedding the blood of the poor through cruelty and oppression, without any justifiable provocation or reason for doing so.
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