Jeremiah 2:1–9

Judah’s Apostasy

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.

5 Thus 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.

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.