Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.
God's heritage means his people, who are likened to a lion in the forest that roars and cries out against him. Standing among the prophecies from Jeremiah 3 to Jeremiah 21 whose meaning is clearly denunciation, the verse exposes Israel's idolatry and sin, expressing sorrow of heart over transgression and making a touching appeal to return to God. That appeal meets utter lack of response from the mass of the people, who persist in wilfulness.
Because the people oppose him, he has hated and rejected them, and their wilfulness will soon be punished by Babylon. Its forest imagery supports the reading of the high places of the forest in Micah 3:12 as the supremacy of Gentile rule over Israel.
God's heritage means his people, who are likened to a lion in the forest that roars and cries out against him. Standing among the prophecies from Jeremiah 3 to Jeremiah 21 whose meaning is clearly denunciation, the verse exposes Israel's idolatry and sin, expressing sorrow of heart over transgression and making a touching appeal to return to God. That appeal meets utter lack of response from the mass of the people, who persist in wilfulness.
Because the people oppose him, he has hated and rejected them, and their wilfulness will soon be punished by Babylon. Its forest imagery supports the reading of the high places of the forest in Micah 3:12 as the supremacy of Gentile rule over Israel.