Jeremiah 2:1–25:38
1 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
2 “Go and aproclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord,
“I remember concerning you the 1bdevotion of your youth,
The love of your betrothals,
cYour following after Me in the wilderness,
Through a land not sown.
3 “Israel was aholy to the Lord,
The bfirst of His harvest.
cAll who ate of it became guilty;
Evil came upon them,” declares the Lord.’ ”
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.
“aWhat injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from Me
And walked after bemptiness and became empty?
6 “They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
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 1deep darkness,
Through a land that no one crossed
And where no man dwelt?’
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 the Lord?’
And those who handle the law bdid not know Me;
The 1rulers 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 the Lord,
“And with your sons’ sons I will contend.
10 “For across to the coastlands of 1Kittim and see,
And send to bKedar and observe closely
And see if there has been such a thing as this!
When 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 shudder, be very desolate,” declares the Lord.
13 “For My people have committed 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 servant?
Why has he become a prey?
15 “The young alions have roared at him,
They have 1roared loudly.
And they have bmade his land a waste;
His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.
16 “Also the 1men of aMemphis and Tahpanhes
Have 2shaved the bcrown of your head.
17 “Have you not adone this to yourself
By your forsaking the Lord your God
When He aled 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 2Euphrates?
19 “aYour own wickedness will correct you,
And your bapostasies will reprove you;
Know therefore and see that it is evil and cbitter
For you to forsake the Lord your God,
And dthe dread of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord 1God 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 faithful 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 the Lord 2God.
23 “aHow can you say, ‘I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the bBaals’?
Look at your way in the cvalley!
Know what you have done!
You are a swift young camel dentangling her ways,
24 A 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 unshod
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 discovered,
So the house of Israel is shamed;
They, their kings, their princes
And their priests and their prophets,
27 Who 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 of their 1trouble 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 of your 1trouble;
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 the Lord.
30 “aIn vain I have struck your sons;
They accepted no chastening.
Your bsword has devoured your prophets
Like a destroying lion.
31 “O generation, heed the word of the Lord.
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 poor;
You did not find them bbreaking in.
But in spite of all these things,
35 Yet 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 ago around so much
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 the Lord has rejected bthose in whom you trust,
And you will not prosper with them.”
1 God 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 the Lord.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the abare heights and see;
Where have you not been violated?
By the roads you have bsat for them
Like an Arab in the desert,
And you have cpolluted a land
With your harlotry and with your wickedness.
3 “Therefore the ashowers have been withheld,
And there has been no spring rain.
Yet you had a bharlot’s forehead;
You refused to be ashamed.
4 “Have you not just now called to Me,
‘aMy Father, You are the 1bfriend of my cyouth?
5 ‘aWill He be angry forever?
Will He 1be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken
And have done evil things,
And you have 2had your way.”
6 Then the Lord 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 1thought, ‘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 writ of divorce, yet her btreacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also.
9 “Because of the lightness of her harlotry, 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 adeception,” declares the Lord.
11 And the Lord said to me, “aFaithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
12 “Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,
‘aReturn, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘bI will not 1look upon you in anger.
For I am cgracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 ‘Only 1aacknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the Lord your God
And have bscattered your 2favors to the strangers cunder every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
14 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘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 bfeed you on knowledge and understanding.
16 “It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will ano longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, 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 the Lord,’ and ball the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the cname of the Lord; 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.
‘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, bMy 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 the Lord.
21 A 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 the Lord their God.
aI will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
23 “Surely, athe hills are a deception,
A tumult on the mountains.
Surely in the bLord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.
24 “But athe shameful thing has consumed 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 humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, bfrom our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”
Judah Threatened with Invasion
1 “If you will areturn, O Israel,” declares the Lord,
“Then you should …