How exceeding base art thou become, going the same ways over again! and thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

“degrade yourself Heb. תזלי, an expression of degradation. to change your way To leave Me and to rely on Egypt for aid in the days of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah (infra 37). to change Heb. לשנות, an expression of change. as you were ashamed through Assyria Upon whom Ahaz relied and “he oppressed him and did not strengthen him” (II Chron. 28:20).”

“Here he convicts them of guilt against the neighbor: and first he proves the guilt; second he threatens the punishment of confusion, there, "and you shall be confounded by Egypt." Concerning the first, three things. First he sets forth the slaying of the neighbors, marveling at the excuse: "to seek love"; as though by these things you could appease me. Setting forth the spiritual slaying: "which, moreover, you have taught" — by evil examples. Below, 13: "you have taught them against you, and instructed them to your own head." And setting forth the bodily slaying, "in the wings," that is, in the birds: he speaks in the likeness of a bird of prey. "Of the poor," whom you have sacrificed to idols. Zach. 5: "I saw, and behold, two women coming forth, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite." Second, the manifestation of the guilt: "I did not find them in the ditches," as though secretly slain by robbers: "in all," namely, the hills, and the pleasant places. Isai. 59: "Truth has fallen in the street, and equity could not enter in. And truth has come into oblivion, and he who departed from evil lay open to plunder." And he marvels at the excuse. "And you said." Job 11: "You said: my speech is pure, and I am clean in your sight." Third, he shows the repetition of the guilt, premising a marveling at the excuse, "behold, I." "How exceedingly vile you have become, repeating your ways." "Sins." Threni 1: "See, Lord, and consider, for I have become vile."”

“Yea, thou shalt go forth from him,.... From the Egyptian, without any help, and with shame; or, "from this" (u); that is, from this place, from Jerusalem, and from the land of Judea, into captivity; notwithstanding all the promised and expected help from Egypt, Kg2 24:7, and thine hands upon thine head; plucking and dishevelling the hair, as women in distress; so Tamar, when abused by her brother, laid her hand on her head, and went out crying, Sa2 13:19, for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences; those in whom they trusted, as the Egyptians; so that they should be of no service to them; or them, because of their trust and confidence in men, when it ought to have been placed above in himself: shalt not prosper in them; or because of them, as Kimchi; but shalt go into captivity. (u) "ab hoc, sub. loco", Gataker; "ab ista", Munster, Grotius; "sub. terra, etiam hinc exibis", Cocceius. Next: Jeremiah Chapter 3”

“Yet in spite of its proud security Judah seeks to assure itself against hostile attacks by the eager negotiation of alliances. This thought is the link between Jer 2:35 and the reproach of Jer 2:36. Why runnest thou to change thy way? תּזלּי for תּאזלי, from אזל, go, with מאד, go impetuously or with strength, i.e., go in haste, run; cf. Sa1 20:19. To change, shift (שׁנּות) one's way, is to take another way than that on which one has hitherto gone. The prophet's meaning is clear from the second half of the verse: "for Egypt, too, wilt thou come to shame, as for Assyria thou hast come to shame." Changing they way, is ceasing to seek help from Assyria in order to form close relations with Egypt. The verbs תּבשׁי and בּשׁתּ show that the intrigues for the favour of Assyria belong to the past, for the favour of Egypt to the present. Judah was put to shame in regard to Assyria under Ahaz, Ch2 28:21; and after the experience of Assyria it had had under Hezekiah and Manasseh, there could be little more thought of looking for help thence. But what could have made Judah under Josiah, in the earlier days of Jeremiah, to seek an alliance with Egypt, considering that Assyria was at that time already nearing its dissolution? Graf is therefore of opinion that the prophet is here keeping in view the political relations in the days of Jehoiakim, in which and for which time he wrote his book, rather than those of Josiah's times, when the alliance with Asshur was still in force; and that he has thus in passing cast a stray glance into a time influenced by later events. But the opinion that in Josiah's time the alliance with Asshur was still existing cannot be historically proved. Josiah's invitation to the passover of all those who remained in what had been the kingdom of the ten tribes, does not prove that he exercised a kind of sovereignty over the provinces that had formerly belonged to the kingdom of Israel, a thing he could have done only as vassal of Assyria; see against this view the remarks on Kg2 23:15. As little does his setting himself against the now mighty Pharaoh Necho at Mediggo show clearly that he remained faithful to the alliance with Asshur in spite of the disruption of the Assyrian empire; see against this the remarks on Kg2 23:29. Historically only thus much is certain, that Jehoiakim was raised to the throne by Pharaoh Necho, and that he was a vassal of Egypt. During the period of this subjection the formation of alliances with Egypt was for Judah out of the question. Such a case could happen only when Jehoiakim had become subject to the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar, and was cherishing the plan of throwing off the Chaldean yoke. But the reference of the words to this design is devoid of the faintest probability, Jer 2:35 and Jer 2:36; and the discourse throughout is far from giving the impression that Judah had already lost its political independence; they rather imply that the kingdom was under the sway neither of Assyrians nor Egyptians, but was still politically independent. We may very plausibly refer to Josiah's time the resolution to give up all trust in the assistance of Assyria and to court the favour of Egypt. We need not seek for the outward inducement to this in the recognition of the beginning decline of the Assyrian power; it might equally well lie in the growth of the Egyptian state. that the power of Egypt had made considerable progress in the reign of Josiah, is made clear by Pharaoh Necho's enterprise against Assyria in the last year of Josiah, from Necho's march towards the Euphrates. Josiah's setting himself in opposition to the advance of the Egyptians, which cost him his life at Megiddo, neither proves that Judah was then allied with Assyria nor excludes the possibility of intrigues for Egypt's favour having already taken place. It is perfectly possible that the taking of Manasseh a captive to Babylon by Assyrian generals may have shaken the confidence in Assyria of the idolatrous people of Judah, and that, their thoughts turning to Egypt, steps may have been taken for paving the way towards an alliance with this great power, even although the godly king Josiah took no part in these proceedings. The prophets' warning against confidence in Egypt and against courting its alliance, is given in terms so general that it is impossible to draw any certain conclusions either with regard to the principles of Josiah's government or with regard to the circumstances of the time which Jeremiah was keeping in view.”