Jeremiah 2–6

CHAPTER 2

Judah Transgresses Against Yahweh

¹Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

²“Go and ^acall out in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh,

“I remember concerning you the ^blovingkindness of your youth,

The love of your betrothals,

^cYour walking after Me in the wilderness,

Through a land not sown.

³“Israel was ^aholy to Yahweh,

The ^bfirst of His produce.

^cAll who ate of it became guilty;

Evil came upon them,” declares Yahweh.’”

⁴Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel.

⁵Thus says Yahweh,

“^aWhat injustice did your fathers find in Me,

That they went far from Me

And walked after ^bvanity and became vain?

⁶“They did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh

Who ^abrought us up out of the land of Egypt,

Who ^bled us through the wilderness,

Through a land of deserts and of pits,

Through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,

Through a land that no one crossed

And where no man inhabited?’

⁷“I brought you into the ^afruitful land

To eat its fruit and its good things.

But you came and ^bdefiled My land,

And My inheritance you made an abomination.

⁸“The ^apriests did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’

And those who handle the law ^bdid not know Me;

The ¹shepherds also transgressed against Me,

And the ^cprophets prophesied by Baal

And walked after ^dthings that did not profit.

⁹“Therefore I will yet ^acontend with you,” declares Yahweh,

“And with your sons’ sons I will contend.

¹⁰“For ^across to the coastlands of ¹Kittim and see,

And send to ^bKedar and perceive closely

And see if there has been such a thing as this!

¹¹“Has a nation changed gods

Though ^athey were not gods?

But My people have ^bchanged their glory

For that which does not profit.

¹²“Be appalled, ^aO heavens, at this,

And be horribly afraid, be very devastated,” declares Yahweh.

¹³“For My people have done two evils:

They have forsaken Me,

The ^afountain of living waters,

To hew for themselves ^bcisterns,

Broken cisterns

That can hold no water.

¹⁴“Is Israel ^aa slave? Or is he a homeborn slave?

Why has he become plunder?

¹⁵“The young ^alions have roared at him;

They have given forth their voice.

And they have ^bmade his land a desolation;

His cities have been turned into ruin, without inhabitant.

¹⁶“Also the ¹men of ^aMemphis and Tahpanhes

Have ²shaved the ^btop of your head.

¹⁷“Have you not ^adone this to yourself

By your forsaking Yahweh your God

When He ^bled you in the way?

¹⁸“But now what are you doing ^aon the road to Egypt,

To drink the waters of the ^1bNile?

Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,

To drink the waters of the ²River?

¹⁹“^aYour own evil will chastise you,

And your ^bacts of faithlessness will reprove you;

Know therefore and see that it is evil and ^cbitter

For you to forsake Yahweh your God,

And ^dthe dread of Me is not in you,” declares Lord Yahweh of hosts.

²⁰“For long ago ^1aI broke your yoke

And tore off your bonds;

But you said, ‘I will not serve!’

For on every ^bhigh hill

And under every green tree

You have lain down as a harlot.

²¹“Yet I ^aplanted you a choice vine,

A completely true seed.

How then have you turned yourself before Me

Into the ^bdegenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

²²“Although you ^awash yourself with lye

And ¹use much soap,

The ^bstain of your iniquity is before Me,” declares Lord Yahweh.

²³“^aHow can you say, ‘I am not defiled;

I have not walked after the ^bBaals’?

Look at your way in the ^cvalley!

Know what you have done!

You are a swift young camel ^dentangling her ways,

²⁴A ^awild donkey accustomed to the wilderness,

That sniffs the wind in her passion.

In the time of her ¹heat who can turn her away?

All who seek her will not become weary;

In her month they will find her.

²⁵“Keep your feet from being barefoot

And your throat from thirst;

But you said, ‘^aIt is ¹hopeless!

No! For I have ^bloved strangers,

And after them I will walk.’

²⁶“As the ^athief is shamed when he is found,

So the house of Israel is shamed;

They, their kings, their princes,

And their priests and their prophets,

²⁷Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’

And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

For they have turned their ^aback to Me

And not their face;

But in the ^btime when their evil comes they will say,

‘Arise and save us.’

²⁸“But where are your ^agods

Which you made for yourself?

Let them arise, if they can ^bsave you

In the time when your evil comes;

For ^caccording to the number of your cities

Are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹“Why do you contend with Me?

You have ^aall transgressed against Me,” declares Yahweh.

³⁰“^aIn vain I have struck your sons;

They received no discipline.

Your ^bsword has devoured your prophets

Like a destroying lion.

³¹“O generation, ¹behold the word of Yahweh.

Have I been a wilderness to Israel

Or a ^aland of thick darkness?

Why do My people say, ‘^bWe are free to roam;

We will no longer come to You’?

³²“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,

Or a bride her attire?

Yet My people have ^aforgotten Me

Days without number.

³³“How well you prepare your way

To seek love!

Therefore even ¹the wicked women

You have taught your ways.

³⁴“Also on your skirts is found

The ^alifeblood of the innocent needy;

You did not find them ^bbreaking in.

But in spite of all these things,

³⁵Yet you said, ‘I am innocent;

Surely His anger is turned away from me.’

Behold, I will ^aenter into judgment with you

Because you ^bsay, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶“Why do you ^adespise Him so much

In changing your way?

Also, ^byou will be put to shame by Egypt

As you were put to shame by ^cAssyria.

³⁷“From this place also you will go out

With ^ayour hands on your head;

For Yahweh has rejected ^bthose in whom you trust,

And you will not succeed with them.”

CHAPTER 3

The Polluted Land

¹God ¹says, “^aIf a husband divorces his wife

And she goes from him

And belongs to another man,

Will he still return to her?

Will not that land be completely ²polluted?

But you ^bare a harlot with many ³lovers;

Yet you ^cturn to Me,” declares Yahweh.

²“Lift up your eyes to the ^abare heights and see;

Where have you not been ravished?

By the roads you have ^bsat for them

Like ¹an Arab in the wilderness,

And you have ^cpolluted a land

With your harlotry and with your evil.

³“Therefore the ^ashowers have been withheld,

And the ¹late rain has not ²come.

Yet you had a ^bharlot’s forehead;

You refused to feel dishonor.

⁴“Have you not just now called to Me,

‘^aMy Father, You are the ^1bclose companion of my ^cyouth?

⁵‘^aWill He be angry forever?

Will He keep it to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken

And have done evil things,

And you have ¹had your way.”

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

⁶Then Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She ^awent up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there.

⁷“^aI said, ‘After she has done all these things, she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her ^btreacherous sister Judah saw it.

⁸“And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and ^agiven her a certificate of divorce, yet her ^btreacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.

⁹“So it was, because of the lightness of her harlotry, that she ^apolluted the land and committed adultery with ^bstones and trees.

¹⁰“Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in ^alying,” declares Yahweh.

¹¹And Yahweh said to me, “^aFaithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

¹²“Go and call out these words toward the north and say,

‘^1aReturn, faithless Israel,’ declares Yahweh;

‘^bI will not ²look upon you in anger.

For I am ^cOne of lovingkindness,’ declares Yahweh;

‘I will not be angry forever.

¹³‘Only ^1aacknowledge your iniquity,

That you have transgressed against Yahweh your God

And have ^bscattered your ways of harlotry to the strangers ^cunder every green tree,

And you have not listened to My voice,’ declares Yahweh.

¹⁴‘¹Return, O faithless sons,’ declares Yahweh;

‘For I am a ^amaster to you,

And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,

And ^bI will bring you to Zion.’

¹⁵“Then I will give you ^ashepherds after My own heart, who will ^1bshepherd you on knowledge and understanding.

¹⁶“It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and fruitful in the land,” declares Yahweh, “they will ^ano longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of Yahweh.’ And it will not come upon the heart, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.

¹⁷“At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The ^aThrone of Yahweh,’ and ^ball the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the ^cname of Yahweh; nor will they ^dwalk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart.

¹⁸“^aIn those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together ^bfrom the land of the north to the ^cland that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

¹⁹“Then I said,

‘How I would set you among ¹My sons

And give you a pleasant land,

The most ^abeautiful inheritance of the nations!’

And I said, ‘You shall call Me, ^b“My Father,”

And not turn away from following Me.’

²⁰“Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her ¹lover,

So you have ^adealt treacherously with Me,

O house of Israel,” declares Yahweh.

²¹A voice is heard on the ^abare heights,

The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel;

Because they have perverted their way,

They have ^bforgotten Yahweh their God.

²²¹“Return, O faithless sons;

^aI will heal your faithlessness.”

“Behold, we come to You,

For You are Yahweh our God.

²³“Surely, ^athe hills are a lie,

A tumult on the mountains.

Surely in ^bYahweh our God

Is the salvation of Israel.

²⁴“But ^athe shameful thing has devoured the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

²⁵“Let us lie down in our ^ashame, and let our dishonor cover us; for we have sinned against Yahweh our God, we and our fathers, ^bfrom our youth even to this day. And we have not listened to the voice of Yahweh our God.”

CHAPTER 4

Yahweh Calls Israel to Return to Him

¹“If you will …