Jeremiah 17:2 (DRB)

Passage

When their children shall remember their altars, and their groves, and their green trees upon the high mountains,

Nearby Context

Jeremiah 17:1 The sin of Juda is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond, it is graven upon the table of their heart, upon the horns of their altars.

Jeremiah 17:2 When their children shall remember their altars, and their groves, and their green trees upon the high mountains,

Jeremiah 17:3 Sacrificing in the field: I will give thy strength, and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin in all thy borders.

Jeremiah 17:4 And thou shalt be left stripped of thy inheritance, which I gave thee: and I will make thee serve thy enemies in a land which thou knowest not: because thou hast kindled a fire in my wrath, it shall burn for ever.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "children", "shall", "remember", "altars", "groves", "green", "trees", and "upon". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "children" and "shall", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "The sin of Juda is written with..." into verse 3's "Sacrificing in the field I will give...", so "children" and "shall" belong inside that flow. In Jeremiah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "children" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.