Jeremiah 2–6

Israel Turns from God

2The Lord spoke his word to me, saying: ²“Go and speak to the people of Jerusalem, saying: This is what the Lord says:

‘I remember how faithful you were to me when you were a young nation.

You loved me like a young bride.

You followed me through the desert,

a land that had never been planted.

³The people of Israel were holy to the Lord,

like the first fruits from his harvest.

Those who tried to hurt Israel were judged guilty.

Disasters struck them,’ ” says the Lord.

⁴Hear the word of the Lord, family of Jacob,

all you family groups of Israel.

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“I was fair to your ancestors,

so why did they turn away from me?

Your ancestors worshiped useless idols

and became useless themselves.

⁶Your ancestors didn’t say,

‘Where is the Lord who brought us out of Egypt?

He led us through the desert,

through a dry and rocky land,

through a dark and dangerous land.

He led us where no one travels or lives.’

⁷I brought you into a fertile land

so you could eat its fruit and produce.

But you came and made my land unclean;

you made it a hateful place.

⁸The priests didn’t ask,

‘Where is the Lord?’

The people who know the teachings didn’t know me.

The leaders turned against me.

The prophets prophesied in the name of Baal

and worshiped useless idols.

⁹“So now I will again tell what I have against you,” says the Lord.

“And I will tell what I have against your grandchildren.

¹⁰Go across the sea to the island of Cyprus and see.

Send someone to the land of Kedar to look closely.

See if there has ever been anything like this.

¹¹Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?

(Of course, its gods are not really gods at all.)

But my people have exchanged their glorious God

for idols worth nothing.

¹²Skies, be shocked at the things that have happened

and shake with great fear!” says the Lord.

¹³“My people have done two evils:

They have turned away from me,

the spring of living water.

And they have dug their own wells,

which are broken wells that cannot hold water.

¹⁴Have the people of Israel become slaves?

Have they become like someone who was born a slave?

Why were they taken captive?

¹⁵Enemies have roared like lions at Israel;

they have growled at Israel.

They have destroyed the land of Israel.

The cities of Israel lie in ruins,

and all the people have left.

¹⁶The men from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes

have disgraced you by shaving the top of your head.

¹⁷Haven’t you brought this on yourselves

by turning away from the Lord your God

when he was leading you in the right way?

¹⁸It did not help to go to Egypt

and drink from the Shihor River.

It did not help to go to Assyria

and drink from the Euphrates River.

¹⁹Your evil will bring punishment to you,

and the wrong you have done will teach you a lesson.

Think about it and understand

that it is a terrible evil to turn away from the Lord your God.

It is wrong not to fear me,”

says the Lord God All-Powerful.

²⁰“Long ago you refused to obey me as an ox breaks its yoke.

You broke the ropes I used to hold you

and said, ‘I will not serve you!’

In fact, on every high hill

and under every green tree

you lay down as a prostitute.

²¹But I planted you as a special vine,

as a very good seed.

How then did you turn

into a wild vine that grows bad fruit?

²²Although you wash yourself with cleanser

and use much soap,

I can still see the stain of your guilt,” says the Lord God.

²³“How can you say to me, ‘I am not guilty.

I have not worshiped the Baal idols’?

Look at the things you did in the valley.

Think about what you have done.

You are like a she-camel in mating season

that runs from place to place.

²⁴You are like a wild donkey that lives in the desert

and sniffs the wind at mating time.

At that time who can hold her back?

Any male who chases her will easily catch her;

at mating time, it is easy to find her.

²⁵Don’t run until your feet are bare

or until your throat is dry.

But you say, ‘It’s no use!

I love those other gods,

and I must chase them!’

²⁶“A thief is ashamed when someone catches him stealing.

In the same way, the family of Israel is ashamed—

they, their kings, their officers,

their priests, and their prophets.

²⁷They say to things of wood, ‘You are my father,’

and to idols of stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’

Those people won’t look at me;

they have turned their backs to me.

But when they get into trouble, they say,

‘Come and save us!’

²⁸Where are the idols you made for yourselves?

Let them come and save you

when you are in trouble!

People of Judah, you have as many idols

as you have towns!

²⁹“Why do you complain to me?

All of you have turned against me,” says the Lord.

³⁰“I punished your people, but it did not help.

They didn’t come back when they were punished.

With your swords you killed your prophets

like a hungry lion.

³¹“People of Judah, pay attention to the word of the Lord:

Have I been like a desert to the people of Israel

or like a dark and dangerous land?

Why do my people say, ‘We are free to wander.

We won’t come to you anymore’?

³²A young woman does not forget her jewelry,

and a bride does not forget the decorations for her dress.

But my people have forgotten me

for more days than can be counted.

³³You really know how to chase after love.

Even the worst women can learn evil ways from you.

³⁴Even on your clothes you have the blood

of poor and innocent people,

but they weren’t thieves you caught breaking in.

You do all these things,

³⁵but you say, ‘I am innocent.

God is not angry with me.’

But I will judge you guilty of lying,

because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶It is so easy for you to change your mind.

Even Egypt will let you down,

as Assyria let you down.

³⁷You will eventually leave that place

with your hands on your head, like captives.

You trusted those countries,

but you will not be helped by them,

because the Lord has rejected them.

Judah Is Unfaithful

3“If a man divorces his wife

and she leaves him and marries another man,

should her first husband come back to her again?

If he went back to her, wouldn’t the land become completely unclean?

But you have acted like a prostitute with many lovers,

and now you want to come back to me?” says the Lord.

²“Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah.

Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute?

You have sat by the road waiting for lovers,

like an Arab in the desert.

You made the land unclean,

because you did evil and were like a prostitute.

³So the rain has not come,

and there have not been any spring rains.

But your face still looks like the face of a prostitute.

You refuse even to be ashamed of what you did.

⁴Now you are calling to me,

‘My father, you have been my friend since I was young.

⁵Will you always be angry at me?

Will your anger last forever?’

Judah, you said this,

but you did as much evil as you could!”

Judah and Israel Are like Sisters

⁶When King Josiah was ruling Judah, the Lord said to me, “Did you see what unfaithful Israel did? She was like a prostitute with her idols on every hill and under every green tree. ⁷I said to myself, ‘Israel will come back to me after she does this evil,’ but she didn’t come back. And Israel’s wicked sister Judah saw what she did. ⁸Judah saw that I divorced unfaithful Israel because of her adultery, but that didn’t make Israel’s wicked sister Judah afraid. She also went out and acted like a prostitute! ⁹And she didn’t care that she was acting like a prostitute. So she made her country unclean and was guilty of adultery, because she worshiped idols made of stone and wood. ¹⁰Israel’s wicked sister didn’t even come back to me with her whole heart, but only pretended,” says the Lord.

¹¹The Lord said to me, “Unfaithful Israel had a better excuse than wicked Judah. ¹²Go and speak this message toward the north:

‘Come back, unfaithful people of Israel,’ says the Lord.

‘I will stop being angry at you,

because I am full of mercy,’ says the Lord.

‘I will not be angry with you forever.

¹³All you have to do is admit your sin—

that you turned against the Lord your God

and worshiped gods under every green tree

and didn’t obey me,’ ” says the Lord.

¹⁴“Come back to me, you unfaithful children,” says the Lord, “because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two from every family group, and I will bring you to Jerusalem. ¹⁵Then I will give you new rulers who will be faithful to me, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶In those days there will be many of you in the land,” says the Lord. “At that time people will no longer say, ‘I remember the Ark of the Agreement.’ They won’t think about it anymore or remember it or miss it or make another one. ¹⁷At that time people will call Jerusalem The Throne of the Lord, and all nations will come together in Jerusalem to show respect to the Lord. They will not follow their stubborn, evil hearts anymore. ¹⁸In those days the family of Judah will join the family of Israel. They will come together from a land in the north to the land I gave their ancestors.

¹⁹“I, the Lord, said,

‘How happy I would be to treat you as my own children

and give you a pleasant land,

a land more beautiful than that of any other nation.’

I thought you would call me ‘My Father’

and not turn away from me.

²⁰But like a woman who is unfaithful to her husband,

family of Israel, you have been unfaithful to me,” says the Lord.

²¹You can hear crying on the bare hilltops.

It is the people of Israel crying and praying for mercy.

They have become very evil

and have forgotten the Lord their God.

²²“Come back to me, you unfaithful children,

and I will forgive you for being unfaithful.”

“Yes, we will come to you,

because you are the Lord our God.

²³It was foolish to worship idols on the hills

and on the mountains.

Surely the salvation of Israel

comes from the Lord our God.

²⁴Since our youth, shameful gods have eaten up in sacrifice

everything our ancestors worked for—

their flocks and herds,

their sons and daughters.

²⁵Let us lie down in our shame,

and let our disgrace cover us like a blanket.

We have sinned against the Lord our God,

both we and our ancestors.

From our youth until now,

we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”

4“If you will return, Israel,

then return to me,” says the …