Jeremiah 2:4–13

⁴Hear ye the word of Jehovah, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: ⁵Thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? ⁶Neither said they, Where is Jehovah that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man dwelt? ⁷And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. ⁸The priests said not, Where is Jehovah? and they that handle the law knew me not: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

⁹Wherefore I will yet contend with you, saith Jehovah, and with your children’s children will I contend. ¹⁰For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there hath been such a thing. ¹¹Hath a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. ¹²Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Jehovah. ¹³For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.