Jeremiah 2:28–37

²⁸So where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them come when you are in trouble!

Let them save you if they can!

Judah, you have as many gods

as you have towns.

²⁹“Why do you bring charges against me?

All of you have refused to obey me,”

announces the Lord.

³⁰“I punished your people. But it did not do them any good.

They did not pay attention when they were corrected.

You have killed your prophets with swords.

You have swallowed them up like a hungry lion.

³¹“You who are now living, consider my message. I am saying,

“Have I been like a desert to Israel?

Have I been like a land of deep darkness?

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

We won’t come to you anymore’?

³²Does a young woman forget all about her jewelry?

Does a bride forget her wedding jewels?

But my people have forgotten me

more days than anyone can count.

³³You are very skilled at chasing after love!

Even the worst of women can learn from how you act.

³⁴The blood of those you have killed is on your clothes.

You have destroyed poor people who were not guilty.

You did not catch them in the act of breaking in.

In spite of all of that,

³⁵you say, ‘I’m not guilty of doing anything wrong.

The Lord isn’t angry with me.’

But I will judge you.

That is because you say, ‘I haven’t sinned.’

³⁶Why do you keep on

changing your ways so much?

Assyria did not help you.

And Egypt will not help you either.

³⁷So you will also leave Egypt

with your hands tied together above your heads.

I have turned my back on those you trust.

They will not help you.