Jeremiah 2:4–8

The Unfaithfulness of Israel’s Ancestors

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the clansg of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says Yahweh:

“What injustice did your ancestorsh find in me

that they were far from me,

and they went after the vanity,

and they became vain?

6 And they did not say,

‘Where is Yahweh,

the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

the one who led us in the desert,i

in a land of desert plains and gorges,j

in a land of dryness and deep darkness,

in a land ⌊that no one passes through⌋,k

and no human lives there?’

7 And I brought you to the land of the orchard,

to eat its fruit, and its good things.l

But you entered and defiled my land,

and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.m

8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’

and those who handle the law did not know me,

and the shepherds have ⌊rebelled against me⌋,n

and the prophets prophesied by Baal,

and they went after things which do not profit.