It is possible that Judah had experienced a drought as the Lord turned these away
referring to the seasonal rains of Jeremiah 5:24. These good
gifts have been kept
from them. More important, however, is the reason why this has happened. It is because of Judah’s iniquities
and sins.
Jeremiah uses two Hebrew words to describes Judah’s unfaithfulness. The first is awon (iniquities
) which is related to a root which means to wander or to err. The second is hattat (sins
) which means to miss the mark. Judah has wandered from the Lord and missed the mark in obedience to the covenant.1
25 Your iniquities have turned these away, and your sins have kept good from you.