Jeremiah 2:14–25
14 Is Israel a slave? Or ⌊a slave born in a house⌋?t
Why has he become plunder?
15 The young lions have roared against him,
they have ⌊raised⌋u their voices.v
And they have made his land as horror;
his cities are destroyed, ⌊without⌋w an inhabitant.
16 Moreover, people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
17 Did you not do this to yourself,
by forsaking Yahweh, your God,
at the time of your leading in the way?
18 And now ⌊why do you go⌋z the way of Egypt
to drink the waters of the Shihor?
And ⌊why do you go⌋a the way of Assyria
to drink the waters of the ⌊Euphrates⌋?b
19 Your wickedness will chastise you,
and your apostasies will reprove you.
Therefore know and see that it is evil and bitter,
your forsaking of Yahweh, your God,
and fear of me is not in you,”
⌊declares⌋c the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
20 “For from long ago you have broken your yoke,
you tore to pieces your bonds.
And you said, ‘I will not serve!’
But on every high hill and under every leafy tree
you were lying down as a prostitute.
21 Yet I planted you as a choice vine,
all of it a seed of trustworthiness.
How then have you altered before me
into something that is degenerate, the foreign vine?
22 For if you wash with natron,
and you ⌊use much soap⌋,d
your guilt is sticking as a stain ⌊before⌋e me,”
⌊declares⌋f the Lord Yahweh.
23 “How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself,
I have not gone after the Baals?’
Look at your way in the valley,
know what you have done.
You are a young she-camel,
interweaving her ways.
24 A wild ass accustomed to the desert,g
in the desire of her soul.
She gasps for wind in her rutting time.
Who can quellh her lust?
All those who seek her will not grow weary,
in her month they will find her.
25 Restrain your foot from being barefoot,
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless.
No! For I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.’i