Jeremiah 2:20
For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
The breaking of the yoke and bursting of the bands is rebellion against God expressed as idolatrous worship carried on in groves and beneath leafy, green trees. The wandering upon every high hill and under every green tree is the picture of a people turning from obedience to play the harlot in those sheltered places of false worship.
That same pattern had already appeared in the descendants of Cain, who took groves associated with Eden and with the worship of the Creator and made them attractive centers for idol worship by setting up images beneath the trees. Trees in their beauty were gifts intended to draw the heart to worship God, not to worship nature itself or idols made by human hands. To pervert them to idolatry dishonored God and helped to debase human character.