Jeremiah 2:27 describes people who worship idols made of wood and stone, addressing them as parents while turning their backs on the living God. The verse exposes a pattern of misplaced trust: when life falls apart, these same people cry out for rescue from the very objects they once honored. The words come from the prophet Jeremiah, speaking on God’s behalf to the nation of Judah and the wider house of Israel during the years before Jerusalem’s fall in the early sixth century BC.
Who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me:’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’
Jeremiah 2:27 (WEB)
What Jeremiah 2:27 Means
The verse describes idol worship in vivid, almost mocking terms. People speak to a piece of carved wood and call it “father,” and to a block of stone and call it the one who gave them life. Those are the words of relationship and origin, yet the objects have no power to beget or to save. Jeremiah is pointing out that the people have given their deepest loyalty and tenderness to things that cannot answer them.
The second half of the verse turns the picture into a sharp diagnosis. They have “turned their back” to God and not their face, meaning they have deliberately looked away from the Lord who made them. Then comes the cry of distress: “Arise, and save us.” The same people who ignored God in good times now call on Him, or at least on their idols, when trouble arrives.
The verse does not teach that God will ignore every desperate cry. Elsewhere Scripture is full of God answering the repentant. What this verse rules out is the expectation that gods made by human hands can rescue anyone, and the assumption that a bit of religious sentiment in a crisis can substitute for a true turning of the heart.
The Context of Jeremiah 2:27
Jeremiah was a priest from Anathoth whose ministry began around 627 BC and continued through the reigns of several kings of Judah. The book bearing his name records his messages to a people who had embraced the worship of Baal and other foreign gods, sometimes mixing those practices with the worship of the LORD. His audience was the covenant community that had been brought out of Egypt and given the law, and his tone is that of a grieved parent rather than a distant judge.
Verses 24 through 26 show the people’s appetite for what is false, comparing their pursuit of other gods to a wild donkey in heat that cannot be turned aside. Verse 26 then describes the shame of a thief caught in the act, and verse 27 names the particular shame of religious leaders and ordinary people alike. Verse 28 follows with a pointed challenge: if your gods are real, let them arise and save you, since you have as many gods as you have towns. Read in that setting, verse 27 is the hinge of a courtroom argument, exposing the absurdity of idolatry before the case is closed.
Key Phrases in Jeremiah 2:27
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
4 Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.
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These verses form the core of Israel’s confession that the LORD alone is God and calls for wholehearted love. They show the standard Jeremiah’s audience had abandoned, giving the reader a clear picture of the covenant loyalty that idolatry betrayed.
Jeremiah 17:5-8
5 The LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from the LORD. 6 For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose confidence is in the LORD. 8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
(WEB)
Written by the same prophet, this passage contrasts the person who trusts in human strength with the one whose trust is in the LORD. It deepens the warning of chapter 2 and offers a picture of the rooted, fruitful life that results from faithful dependence on God.
A Short Prayer From Jeremiah 2:27
Lord, You are the one who made me and who knows my heart better than I do. Forgive the times I have given my trust to things that cannot save, and the moments I have turned my back to You while asking You to show up only when I am in trouble. Turn my face toward You today, in the ordinary hours as well as the hard ones. Teach me to come to You first, and to trust that You hear me whenever I call. Amen.
