Jeremiah 2:1–7

Judah’s Apostasy

¹Now 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.’ ”

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

⁵Thus says the Lord,

“^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.