Jeremiah 2:1–7

God’s Care for Israel

2The Lord told me ²to proclaim this message to everyone in Jerusalem.

“I remember how faithful you were when you were young,

how you loved me when we were first married;

you followed me through the desert, through a land that had not been sown.

³Israel, you belonged to me alone;

you were my sacred possession.

I sent suffering and disaster

on everyone who hurt you.

I, the Lord, have spoken.”

The Sin of Israel’s Ancestors

⁴Listen to the Lord’s message, you descendants of Jacob, you tribes of Israel. ⁵The Lord says:

“What accusation did your ancestors bring against me?

What made them turn away from me?

They worshipped worthless idols

and became worthless themselves.

⁶They did not care about me,

even though I rescued them from Egypt

and led them through the wilderness:

a land of deserts and sand dunes,

a dry and dangerous land

where no one lives

and no one will even travel.

⁷I brought them into a fertile land,

to enjoy its harvests and its other good things.

But instead they ruined my land;

they defiled the country I had given them.