“Indeed, ¹  long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. ²  You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ ³  Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. ⁴ 

biblegateway Jer 2:20

"For long ago I broke your yoke And tore off your bonds; But you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot.

For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your fetters. You insisted: I will not serve! On every high hill and under every leafy tree you lie down like a prostitute.

"Long ago you broke off your yoke, tore off your chains, and said that you wouldn’t be a slave. You lay down and acted like a prostitute on every high hill and under every large tree.

biblegateway Jer 2:20

"Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.

"For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds; but you said, 'I will not serve.' yes, on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore.

bibleoremus Jer 2:20

For long ago you broke your yoke and burst your bonds, and you said, "I will not serve!" On every high hill and under every green tree you sprawled and played the whore.

Many ages ago you shattered your yoke and snapped your traces, crying, “I will not serve you”; and you sprawled in promiscuous vice on all the hilltops, under every spreading tree.

biblegateway Jer 2:20

"For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot.

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, [and] burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

biblegateway Jer 2:20

“Indeed, ¹  long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me. ²  You said, ‘I will not serve you.’ ³  Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers. ⁴ 

¹ tn Or “For.” The Hebrew particle (כִּי, ki) here introduces the evidence that they had no respect for him.

² tn Heb “you broke your yoke…tore off your yoke ropes.” The metaphor is that of a recalcitrant ox or heifer which has broken free from its master.

³ tc The MT of this verse has two examples of the old second feminine singular perfect, שָׁבַרְתִּי (shavarti) and נִתַּקְתִּי (nittaqti), which the Masoretes mistook for first singulars leading to the proposal to read אֶעֱבוֹר (’e’evor, “I will not transgress”) for אֶעֱבֹד (’e’evod, “I will not serve”). The latter understanding of the forms is accepted in KJV but rejected by almost all modern English versions as being less appropriate to the context than the reading accepted in the translation given here.

⁴ tn Heb “you sprawled as a prostitute on….” The translation reflects the meaning of the metaphor.