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How canst thou say? with what face canst thou go about to excuse thyself, or deny what is so evident, and so truly charged upon thee? Jer_2:20.
I have not gone after Baalim: the word is plural, as comprehensive of all their idols, Hos_11:2, and is a name usually given to several of them, as Baal-zebub, 2Ki_1:16, and Baal-peor, Num_25:3, and therefore their worshipping of many. Because they had the temple and sacrifices, &c., they still persuaded themselves that they worshipped the true God, though they joined their idolatries with it; as the papists though they make use of idols in worship, yet would not be accounted idolaters.
Thy way; the filthiness thou hast left behind thee, whereby thou mayst be traced, where thou leftest, as it were, thy footsteps, and monuments of thy frequent idolatries.
Thy way in the valley; thy frequent course in the valleys, whether of Hinnom, where they burnt their children’s bones in sacrifice, Jer_7:31, or in any valleys where thou hast been frequent in thy idolatries; it seems to be thus largely taken.
Know what thou hast done; look on and consider thy ways, as Jer_2:19.
Thou art a swift dromedary; or, thou art as, &c.; or, O dromedary, a beast much used by carriers in Arabia, being rife there. See on Isa_60:6.
Traversing; a metaphor taken from creatures that are hunted, that keep no direct path; alluding to the nature of the she dromedary, which in gendering time runs capering this way, and crossing that way, making many vagaries to find out sometimes one male, sometimes another, without any rule or order; setting forth hereby the disposition of this people, that were so mad upon their idols, that they ran sometimes after this, and sometimes after that, called wandering, Jer_2:20, and that with great eagerness, fitly termed traversing, much like the description of a whore, Pro_7:11,12; the word being no where found but here, and being derived from a word that signifies a shoe-latchet, If any be curious, let the learned consult Synop. Critic., and the English reader the English Annotations on the place.