Jeremiah 2:2

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.

Cry - proclaim.

In the ears of Jerusalem - the headquarters and center of their idolatry; therefore addressed first.

Thee - rather, 'I remember in regard to thee' (Henderson): for thee (Maurer), or, as margin, 'for thy sake.'

The kindness of thy youth - not so much Israel's kindness toward God, as the kindness which lsrael experienced from God in her early history (cf. ; ). For Israel from the first showed perversity rather than kindness toward God (cf. . See also ; Exodus 32:1, The molten calf of gold). The greater were God's favours to them from the first, the fouler was their ingratitude in forsaking Him, (; , etc.)

Espousals - the intervals between Israel's betrothal to God at the exodus from Egypt, and the formal execution of the marriage contract at Sinai. Ewald takes the "kindness" and "love" to be Israel's toward God at first (; ; ). But cf. , and Ezekiel 16:5; ; ('Days of thy youth'), implies that the love here meant was on God's side, not Israel's.

Thou wentest after me in ... wilderness - the next act of God's love, His leading them in the desert without needing any strange god, such as they since worshipped, to help Him (). shows it is God's "leading" of them, not their following after God in the wilderness, which is implied.