Jeremiah 2:13:
"For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.
In Hebrew the waters of a spring are called "living" because they are more refreshing and, as it were, lifegiving than the stagnant waters of pools and tanks fed by the rains. Hence, by a natural metaphor, the mouth of a righteous man, or the teaching of the wise, and the fear of the Lord, are called a fountain of life. "The fountain of life" is with Jehovah; He Himself the Fountain of living waters.
Those of us not raised on a farm or a ranch might not know that a cistern is just an underground container to catch and hold water. In this verse, God mentions two of the specific ways the nation of Israel had disobeyed him. He tells them they had forsaken him, the true God, and they were trying to satisfy themselves instead of relying on him.
It's like this. We're hopelessly lost in the desert, dying of thirst, seeking anything to quench our parched, dry throats. We see a kiosk with big flashing neon lights, and God is holding up a sign that says, "Living Water Available Here." Yet we say, "No, thanks, God! Appreciate the offer, but I see a shovel over there. Think I'll dig my own cistern!"
Off we trot to start digging our own well and our own cistern. We abandon God — who doesn't just have water but a spring of water that will never dry up — and decide to figure our problem out by ourselves.
The problem is our cisterns always break; they never hold up. The water leaks out, so we remain thirsty, unable to quench our own thirst. --[SOURCE: Daily Hope: Rick Warren Trying to Satisfy Ourselves]
If a spring was nearby and you didn't know it, you would be in a pathetic situation, but at least you could be pitied for your diligent efforts to try to collect some water. But if you did know that there was a good spring of running water readily available, and you deliberately turned your back on this life-giving source to construct a cistern, you would be incredibly foolish. There would be no sympathy or pity for you when your digging efforts resulted in an empty, broken cistern! This is precisely the illustration that God painted in words to show His people how utterly foolish and guilty they were when they turned away from Him. The surrounding heathen nations could at least be pitied when they ignorantly followed lifeless gods which could not meet their spiritual thirst. Futhermore, unlike Judah, these pagan nations were loyal to their gods (v10-11)! The people of Judah knowingly forsook their Source of Living Water to attempt to drink from self-made broken cisterns. No wonder the heavens are called on to be appalled and "shudder with great horror" at such foolishness, such stupidity and such evil (v12).
[SOURCE: Growing Christians Ministries: Broken Cisterns]
If a reason is given here why the Prophet had bidden the heavens to be astonished and terrified, then we must render the words thus, "For two evils have my people done:" but I rather think that the preceding verse is connected with the former verses. The Prophet had said, "Go to the farthest lands, and see whether any nation has changed its gods, while yet they are mere inventions." I think then the subject is closed with the exclamation in the preceding verse, when the Prophet says, "Be astonished, ye heavens." It then follows, "Surely, two evils have my people done," even these, — "they have forsaken me," — and then, "they sought for themselves false gods." When any one forsakes an old friend and connects himself with a new one, it is an iniquitous and a base conduct: but when there is no compensation, there is in it united together, folly, levity, and madness. If I despise what I know to be profitable to me, and embrace what I understand will be to my hurt, does not such a choice prove madness? This then is what the Prophet now means, when he says, that the people had sinned not only by departing from the true God, but also by going over, without any compensation, unto idols, which could confer no good on them.
He says that they had done two evils: the first was, they had forsaken God; and the other, they had fallen away unto false and imaginary gods. But the more to amplify their sin, he makes use of a similitude, and says that God is a fountain of living waters; and he compares idols to perforated or broken cisterns, which hold no water When one leaves a living fountain and seeks a cistern, it is a proof of great folly; for cisterns are dry except water comes elsewhere; but a fountain has its own spring; and further, where there is a vein perpetually flowing, and a perennial stream of waters, the water is more salubrious and much better. The waters which rain brings into cisterns are never so wholesome as those which flow from their own native vein: and when the very receptacles of water are full of chinks, what must they be but empty? Hence then God charges the people with madness, because he was forsaken, who was a fountain and a fountain of living waters; and further, because the people sought unprofitable things when they went after their idols. For what is to be found in idols? some likeness; for the superstitious think that they labor not in vain, when they worship false gods, and they hope to derive some benefit. There are then some resemblances to the true in false religions; and hence the Prophet compares false gods to wells, because they were made hollow, suitable to hold water; but there was not a drop of water in them, as they were broken cisterns.
--John Calvin 1509-1564