Jeremiah 2:31–4:18
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
we will come no more to you’?
32 xCan a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet ymy people have forgotten me
days without number.
33 “How well you direct your course
to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
zthe lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them abreaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
surely his anger has turned from me.’
bBehold, I will bring you to judgment
for csaying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 dHow much you go about,
changing your way!
You shall be eput to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 From it too you will come away
with fyour hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper by them.
3 g“If1 a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
hWould not that land be greatly polluted?
iYou have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to jthe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
kBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
hYou have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 lTherefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have mthe forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now ncalled to me,
‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
5 owill he be angry forever,
will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
but you have done all the evil that you could.”
Faithless Israel Called to Repentance
6 The Lord said to me in the days of pKing Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, qhow she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there iplayed the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous rsister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, sI had sent her away with ta decree of divorce. uYet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went iand played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with vstone and tree. 10 Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me wwith her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”
11 And the Lord said to me, x“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go, and proclaim these words toward ythe north, and say,
z“ ‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
for aI am merciful,
declares the Lord;
bI will not be angry forever.
13 cOnly acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under devery green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
14 eReturn, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
ffor I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
15 “ ‘And gI will give you shepherds after my own heart, hwho will feed you with knowledge and understanding. 16 And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. 17 At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, iand all nations shall gather to it, jto the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. 18 kIn those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land lof the north to mthe land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would ncall me, My Father,
and would not turn from following me.
20 oSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.’ ”
21 A voice on the pbare heights is heard,
qthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 r“Return, O faithless sons;
sI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
23 Truly tthe hills are a delusion,
the orgies2 on the mountains.
uTruly in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 vLet us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For wwe have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
declares the Lord,
xto me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
yand do not waver,
2 zand if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then anations shall bless themselves in him,
band in him shall they glory.”
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
c“Break up your fallow ground,
and dsow not among thorns.
4 eCircumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
flest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
gbecause of the evil of your deeds.”
5 Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,
h“Blow the trumpet through the land;
cry aloud and say,
i‘Assemble, and let us go
into the fortified cities!’
6 jRaise a standard toward Zion,
flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from kthe north,
land great destruction.
7 mA lion has gone up from his thicket,
a destroyer of nations has set out;
he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
your cities will be ruins
nwithout inhabitant.
8 For this oput on sackcloth,
lament and wail,
for pthe fierce anger of the Lord
has not turned back from us.”
9 “In that day, declares the Lord, qcourage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” 10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, rsurely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”
11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from sthe bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, 12 a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who tspeak in judgment upon them.”
13 Behold, he comes up like clouds;
uhis chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are vswifter than eagles—
woe to us, wfor we are ruined!
14 O Jerusalem, xwash your heart from evil,
that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
15 For a voice ydeclares from Dan
and proclaims trouble from zMount Ephraim.
16 Warn the nations that he is coming;
announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come afrom a distant land;
they shout against the cities of Judah.
17 Like keepers of a field bare they against her all around,
because she has rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and cit is bitter;
it has reached your very heart.”