“For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 2:13 Mean?
God diagnoses Israel's sin with a devastating metaphor: for my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
My people have committed two evils — not one. Two. The sins are paired because each makes the other worse. Committing one evil is bad. Committing both together is catastrophic — because the second evil is the replacement for the first, and the replacement is infinitely inferior to what was abandoned.
They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters — the first evil: abandoning God. But God is not described generically. He is the fountain of living waters (maqor mayim chayyim — a spring of fresh, flowing, life-giving water). Living waters are moving waters — spring-fed, clean, constantly replenished, never stagnant. God is the source of life itself — flowing, fresh, abundant, inexhaustible. And they forsook him. They walked away from the spring.
And hewed them out cisterns — the second evil: replacing the fountain with a cistern. A cistern is a hole cut in rock to catch and store rainwater. It is the opposite of a spring in every way: stagnant (not flowing), dependent on rain (not self-replenishing), limited (not abundant), and liable to leak. The cistern is the human-made alternative to the God-made spring. The people dug their own water supply because they abandoned the divine one.
Broken cisterns, that can hold no water — the cisterns do not even work. They are broken (nishbarim — cracked, fractured). The limestone cisterns of the ancient world frequently developed cracks — leaking the very water they were designed to hold. The human replacement for God is not just inferior. It is non-functional. The alternative to the living fountain cannot even hold the stagnant water it was designed to store.
The two evils in sequence: (1) they left the source that works perfectly, and (2) they replaced it with something that does not work at all. The abandonment would be bad enough on its own. The replacement compounds the tragedy: you left the fountain for a cracked cistern. You traded the living spring for a leaking hole.
The metaphor is one of the most powerful in the prophets. It captures the absurdity of all idolatry and all human attempts to replace God: leaving what is infinite, fresh, and life-giving for what is finite, stagnant, and broken.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Why does God identify 'two evils' rather than one — and how does the pairing intensify the diagnosis?
- 2.What does God being 'the fountain of living waters' communicate about his nature as a source of life?
- 3.How does a 'broken cistern that can hold no water' describe every human attempt to replace God?
- 4.What broken cistern are you currently drinking from — and what would returning to the fountain look like?
Devotional
My people have committed two evils. Two. Not one. And the two together are worse than either alone. The first evil is what they left. The second evil is what they chose instead. And the combination — the leaving and the replacing — is the complete anatomy of every wrong choice humanity makes about God.
They have forsaken me the fountain of living waters. God is a fountain. Not a well you have to dig. Not a cistern you have to fill. A fountain — self-springing, self-replenishing, constantly flowing with fresh, clean, living water. The source that never runs dry. The supply that never stagnates. The water that gives life every time you drink it. And they walked away from it.
And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. They dug their own water source. Carved it out of rock with their own hands. And the cistern they built — the alternative to the fountain of living waters — is broken. Cracked. Leaking. It cannot even hold the stagnant water it was designed to store. The replacement for God does not work. It never works. You leave the fountain and dig a hole — and the hole leaks.
The two evils are the story of every human life lived apart from God. You leave the source that works perfectly. And you replace it with something you built that does not work at all. The career that was supposed to satisfy — a leaking cistern. The relationship that was supposed to complete you — a cracked container. The comfort that was supposed to fill the void — a broken hole in the rock that loses whatever you pour into it.
The fountain is still flowing. The living waters have not stopped. The spring that God is has not dried up because you walked away from it. The tragedy is not that the fountain failed. It is that you left it — for something you made with your own hands that cannot hold what you need.
What broken cistern are you drinking from? What leaking replacement for God are you still digging? The fountain of living waters is behind you — flowing, fresh, inexhaustible. The cistern in front of you is cracked. The choice is as simple as it is devastating: the fountain or the cistern. The living water or the leaking hole. God or the thing you built to replace him.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Is Israel a servant?.... That he does not abide in the house, in his own land, but is carried captive, becomes subject…
The pagan are guilty of but one sin - idolatry; the covenant-people commit two - they abandon the true God; they serve…
The prophet, having shown their base ingratitude in forsaking God, here shows their unparalleled fickleness and folly…
"Jehovah is a fountain of living water, having life in Himself, giving life to all." (Co.) Israel has preferred…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture