Jeremiah 2–6

Israel Accused of Apostasy

2The word of the Lord came to me: ²“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:

I remember the loyalty of your youth, ^d

your love as a bride—

how you followed Me in the wilderness,

in a land not sown.

³Israel was holy to the Lord, ^e

the firstfruits of His harvest. ^f

All who ate of it found themselves guilty; ^g

disaster came on them.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob

and all families of the house of Israel.

⁵This is what the Lord says:

What fault did your fathers find in Me ^h

that they went so far from Me,

followed worthless idols, ⁱ

and became worthless themselves? ^j

⁶They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord ^k

who brought us from the land of Egypt,

who led us through the wilderness, ^l

through a land of deserts and ravines,

through a land of drought and darkness, ^m

a land no one traveled through

and where no one lived?”

⁷I brought you to a fertile land ⁿ

to eat its fruit and bounty,

but after you entered, you defiled My land; ^o

you made My inheritance ^pdetestable.

⁸The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”

The experts in the law no longer knew Me, ^q

and the rulers ^rrebelled against Me.

The prophets prophesied by ^sBaal ^t

and followed useless idols. ^u

⁹Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I will bring a case against your children’s children. ^v

¹⁰Cross over to Cyprus ^wxand take a look.

Send someone to Kedar ^yand consider carefully;

see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? ^z

(But they were not gods! ^a)

Yet My people have exchanged their ^bGlory

for useless idols. ^c

¹²Be horrified at this, heavens; ^d

be shocked and utterly appalled.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹³For My people have committed a double evil:

They have abandoned Me, ^e

the fountain of living water, ^f

and dug cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns that cannot hold water. ^g

Consequences of Apostasy

¹⁴Is Israel a slave?

Was he born into slavery? ^h

Why else has he become a prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him; ⁱ

they have roared loudly.

They have laid waste his land. ^j

His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.

¹⁶The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes ^k

have also broken your skull.

¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourself ^l

by abandoning the Lord your God

while He was leading you along the way?

¹⁸Now what will you gain

by traveling along the way to Egypt ^m

to drink the waters of the Nile? ⁿ

What will you gain

by traveling along the way to Assyria ^o

to drink the waters of the Euphrates? ^p

¹⁹Your own evil will discipline you; ^q

your own apostasies will reprimand you.

Think it over and see how evil and bitter ^rit is

for you to abandon the Lord your God

and to have no fear of Me.

This is the declaration

of the Lord God of Hosts.

²⁰For long ago I ^sbroke your yoke; ^t

I ^utore off your chains.

You insisted, “I will not serve!”

On every high hill

and under every green tree ^v

you lie down like a prostitute. ^w

²¹I planted you, a choice vine ^x

from the very best seed.

How then could you turn into

a degenerate, foreign vine? ^y

²²Even if you wash with lye

and use a great amount of soap, ^z

the stain of your sin is still in front of Me. ^a

This is the Lord God’s declaration.

²³How can you protest, “I am not defiled;

I have not followed the Baals”? ^b

Look at your behavior in the valley;

acknowledge what you have done. ^c

You are a swift young camel

twisting and turning on her way,

²⁴a wild donkey ^dat home ^ein the wilderness.

She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.

Who can control her passion?

All who look for her will not become tired;

they will find her in her mating season. ^f

²⁵Keep your feet from going bare

and your throat from thirst.

But you say, “It’s hopeless; ^g

I love strangers, ^h

and I will continue to follow them.”

²⁶Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,

so the house of Israel has been put to shame. ⁱ

They, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets ^j

²⁷say to a tree, “You are my father,”

and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”

For they have turned their back to Me

and not their face, ^k

yet in their time of disaster ^lthey beg,

“Rise up and save us!”

²⁸But where are your gods you made for yourself?

Let them rise up and save you ^m

in your time of disaster if they can,

for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.

Judgment Deserved

²⁹Why do you bring a case against Me? ⁿ

All of you have rebelled against Me.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

³⁰I have struck down your children in vain;

they would not accept discipline. ^o

Your own sword has devoured your prophets ^p

like a ravaging lion.

³¹Evil generation,

pay attention to the word of the Lord!

Have I been a wilderness to Israel

or a land of dense darkness? ^q

Why do My people claim,

“We will go where we want; ^r

we will no longer come to You”?

³²Can a young woman forget her jewelry ^s

or a bride her wedding sash?

Yet My people have forgotten Me ^t

for countless days.

³³How skillfully you pursue love;

you also teach evil women your ways.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained

with the blood of the innocent poor. ^u

You did not catch them breaking and entering. ^v

But in spite of all these things

³⁵you claim, “I am innocent. ^w

His anger is sure to turn away from me.”

But I will certainly judge you

because you have said, “I have not sinned.” ^x

³⁶How unstable you are, ^y

constantly changing your ways!

You will be put to shame by Egypt ^z

just as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷Moreover, you will be led out from here

with your hands on your head ^a

since the Lord has rejected those you trust; ^b

you will not succeed even with their help. ^c

Wages of Apostasy

3If ^da man divorces his wife

and she leaves him to marry another,

can he ever return to her? ^e

Wouldn’t such a land ^fbecome totally defiled?

But you!

You have played the prostitute with many partners ^g—

can you return to Me? ^h

This is the Lord’s declaration.

²Look to the barren heights ⁱand see.

Where have you not been immoral?

You sat waiting for them beside the highways ^j

like a nomad in the desert.

You have defiled the land

with your prostitution and wickedness. ^k

³This is why the showers haven’t come ^l—

why there has been no spring rain.

You have the brazen look ^mof a prostitute ⁿ

and refuse to be ashamed. ^o

⁴Have you not lately called to Me, “My Father. ^p

You were my friend in my youth. ^q

⁵Will He bear a grudge forever? ^r

Will He be endlessly infuriated?”

This is what you have said,

but you have done the evil things

you are capable of.

Unfaithful Israel, Treacherous Judah

⁶In the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there. ^s7I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. ^tBut she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah ^usaw it. ⁸I ^vobserved that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. ^wNevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself. ^x9Indifferent to ^yher prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones ^zand trees. ^a10Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to Me with all her heart ^b—only in pretense.”

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹¹The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ^c12Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say:

Return, unfaithful Israel. ^d

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I will not look on you with anger, ^e

for I am unfailing in My love. ^f

This is the Lord’s declaration.

I will not be angry forever. ^g

¹³Only acknowledge your guilt ^h—

you have rebelled against the Lord your God. ⁱ

You have scattered your favors to strangers

under every green tree ^j

and have not obeyed My voice.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁴“Return, you faithless children” ^k—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I am your master, ^land I will take you, ^mone from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. ¹⁵I will give you shepherds who are loyal to Me, ^noand they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill. ¹⁶When you multiply and increase in the land, ^pin those days”—the Lord’s declaration—“no one will say any longer, ‘The ark of the Lord’s covenant.’ ^qIt will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. It will never again be made. ¹⁷At that time Jerusalem will be called, Yahweh’s Throne, ^rand all the nations will be gathered to it, ^sto the name of Yahweh in Jerusalem. ^tThey will cease to follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. ¹⁸In those days the house of Judah will join with the house of Israel, ^uand they will come together from the land of the north to the land I have given your ancestors to inherit.” ^v

True Repentance

¹⁹I thought: How I long to make you My sons

and give you a desirable land,

the most beautiful inheritance ^wof all the nations.

I thought: You will call Me, my Father,

and never turn away from Me.

²⁰However, as a woman may betray her lover, ^x

so you have betrayed ^yMe, house of Israel.

This is the Lord’s declaration.

²¹A sound is heard on the barren heights,

the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,

for they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God. ^z

²²Return, you faithless children.

I will heal your unfaithfulness. ^a

“Here we are, coming to You,

for You are the Lord our God.

²³Surely, falsehood comes from the hills,

commotion from the mountains, ^b

but the salvation of Israel

is only in the Lord our God. ^c

²⁴From the time of our youth

the shameful one ^dhas consumed

what our fathers have worked for—

their flocks and their herds,

their sons and their daughters.

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame;

let our disgrace cover us. ^e

We have sinned against the Lord our God, ^f

both we and our fathers,

from the time of our youth even to this day. ^g

We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

Blessing or Curse

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