Discovery BoxJeremiah 2:13 
Context2:13 “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong:
they have rejected me,
the fountain of life-giving water, 1
and they have dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”
Jeremiah 2:32
Context2:32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?
Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?
But my people have forgotten me
for more days than can even be counted.
1 tn It is difficult to decide whether to translate “fresh, running water” which the Hebrew term for “living water” often refers to (e.g., Gen 26:19; Lev 14:5), or “life-giving water” which the idiom “fountain of life” as source of life and vitality often refers to (e.g., Ps 36:9; Prov 13:14; 14:27). The contrast with cisterns, which collected and held rain water, suggests “fresh, running water,” but the reality underlying the metaphor contrasts the
