Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.
Interpreters seem not to me to have perceived the design of the Prophet here, at least they have not clearly explained the subject. He proceeds, as I think, with what he said at the end of the last verse, — that the iniquity of Judah was graven on the altars, or on the horns of the altars: how was this?
Their sin is written in characters that time will never wear out, sealed in God's book and graven on the tablets of their own hearts where no erasing can reach it. The blood on their altar horns stands as undeniable proof of the charge against them.
AI summary
Commenting on Jeremiah 17:1-4
Whilst their children remember their altars,.... Which is a further proof of their long continuance in idolatrous practices, and a fresh witness against them; they trained up their children in them; who, when grown up, could not forget them, but imitated them, and went on in the same evil ways.