It was an evil and bitter thing that the people of Israel had forsaken Jehovah their God (v. 19). They forsook Him, the fountain of living waters, and went away from Him to idols.
Finally, in forsaking Jehovah, the fountain of living waters, God's people were like Jehovah's wife committing fornication with many lovers (3:1). Israel realized that Jehovah was her Husband, but she continued to commit fornication with many lovers, with many idols. Such was the sinful condition of Israel.
Israel forsook Jehovah as the fountain of living waters. This was Israel's first evil. Israel's second evil was to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.
The word in 2:13 about cisterns is, of course, a figure of speech portraying Israel's toil in making something to replace God as the fountain of living waters. To hew out a cistern from rock is very hard labor. Then the cistern may become broken. Once a cistern is broken, the water in it leaks out. This is a picture of human labor and enterprise. We may labor to get something for ourselves, but then our "cistern" develops a crack, and we lose whatever we have gained.
Israel chose many idols, which are of no benefit, to replace the unique God, who is their glory (2:11). This is very similar to what is described in Romans 1:23, where Paul speaks of those who "changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and reptiles."