Jeremiah 2

¹ The word of the LORD came to me:

² "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
'This is what the LORD says:
I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
your following me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.

³ Israel was holy to the LORD,
the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who devoured it bore guilt;
disaster came upon them'
— this is the declaration of the LORD."

⁴ Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob — all the clans of the house of Israel!

⁵ This is what the LORD says:
"What fault did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me?
They followed worthlessness
and became worthless themselves.

⁶ They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD,
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and pits,
through a land of drought and deep darkness,
through a land no one passes through
and where no human dwells?'

⁷ I brought you into a garden land
to eat its fruit and its good things,
but you came in and defiled my land
and made my inheritance an abomination.

⁸ The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD?'
Those who handle the Torah did not know me.
The shepherds rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed things that do not profit.

⁹ "Therefore I will bring charges against you again"
— this is the declaration of the LORD —
"and against your children's children I will bring charges.

¹⁰ Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look;
send to Kedar and observe carefully;
see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹ Has a nation ever exchanged its gods
— even though they are not gods?
But my people have exchanged their Glory
for what does not profit.

¹² Be appalled at this, O heavens!
Shudder! Be utterly desolate!"
— this is the declaration of the LORD.

¹³ "For my people have committed two evils:
They have abandoned me,
the spring of living water,
to dig for themselves cisterns —
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

¹⁴ "Is Israel a slave? Is he a house-born servant?
Why then has he become plunder?

¹⁵ Young lions have roared against him;
they have raised their voice.
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are burned, without inhabitant.

¹⁶ Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have shaved the crown of your head.

¹⁷ Have you not brought this on yourself
by abandoning the LORD your God
at the time he was leading you on the way?

¹⁸ And now — what do you gain by going to Egypt,
to drink the waters of the Nile?
And what do you gain by going to Assyria,
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

¹⁹ Your own wickedness will discipline you,
and your acts of turning away will rebuke you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
that you have abandoned the LORD your God,
and that no fear of me is in you"
— this is the declaration of the Lord GOD of Hosts.

²⁰ "For long ago you broke your yoke;
you tore off your bonds.
And you said, 'I will not serve!'
For on every high hill
and under every green tree
you sprawled as a prostitute.

²¹ Yet I planted you as a choice vine,
entirely of true seed.
How then have you turned against me
into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

²² "Even if you wash with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is before me"
— this is the declaration of the Lord GOD.

²³ How can you say, 'I am not defiled;
I have not gone after the Baals'?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done —
a restless young camel running back and forth on her paths,

²⁴ a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
sniffing the wind in her desire —
who can restrain her heat?
All who seek her need not weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.

²⁵ Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst!
But you said, 'It is hopeless!
No — for I love strangers,
and after them I will go.'

²⁶ "As the shame of a thief when he is caught,
so the house of Israel is put to shame —
they, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets —

²⁷ saying to a tree, 'You are my father,'
and to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.'
For they have turned their back to me,
not their face.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
'Rise up and save us!'

²⁸ But where are your gods that you made for yourself?
Let them rise up — if they can save you
in the time of your trouble!
For as many as your cities
are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹ "Why do you bring charges against me?
All of you have rebelled against me"
— this is the declaration of the LORD.

³⁰ "In vain I struck your children;
they did not accept correction.
Your own sword devoured your prophets
like a destroying lion.

³¹ O generation, you yourselves see the word of the LORD!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why do my people say, 'We roam free;
we will come to you no more'?

³² Does a young woman forget her jewelry,
a bride her sash?
Yet my people have forgotten me
days without number.

³³ How well you direct your way to seek love!
Therefore even the wicked women
you have taught your ways.

³⁴ Also on your skirts is found
the blood of the innocent poor.
You did not catch them breaking in;
yet in spite of all these things —

³⁵ you say, 'I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.'
Look — I am entering into judgment with you
because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

³⁶ Why do you rush about so much
to change your way?
You will be put to shame by Egypt also,
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷ From there too you will go out
with your hands on your head,
for the LORD has rejected those you trust,
and you will not prosper by them."