The Lord had spoken to Judah in the past through his prophets, including Jeremiah. He had warned them during times of prosperity
against turning away from him. Sadly, instead of living in thankful worship of the Lord who had given them times of safety and abundance in the land, the people had indeed refused to listen to the Lord and had turned to other nations and their gods as if these had brought and would guarantee a secure and prosperous life in the land.
This kind of unresponsive attitude to the Lord had started during the days of Josiah when the Assyrian empire was falling and Judah experienced a time of prosperity and growth.1 But this behaviour was nothing new. This has been your behaviour since your youth,
says the Lord. Despite some signs of early devotion to the Lord (Jeremiah 2:1–3), the nation of Israel very quickly fell into a pattern of grumbling and unfaithfulness towards the Lord, soon after her rescue from Egypt. The current generation in Judah is simply following the pattern set by their forefathers.
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth, that you have not obeyed my voice.