Jeremiah 2:28–37

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.