Jeremiah 2:4–13

⁴Listen to the word of the Lord, people of Jacob—all you families of Israel! ⁵This is what the Lord says:

“What did your ancestors find wrong with me

that led them to stray so far from me?

They worshiped worthless idols,

only to become worthless themselves.

⁶They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord

who brought us safely out of Egypt

and led us through the barren wilderness—

a land of deserts and pits,

a land of drought and death,

where no one lives or even travels?’

⁷“And when I brought you into a fruitful land

to enjoy its bounty and goodness,

you defiled my land and

corrupted the possession I had promised you.

⁸The priests did not ask,

‘Where is the Lord?’

Those who taught my word ignored me,

the rulers turned against me,

and the prophets spoke in the name of Baal,

wasting their time on worthless idols.

⁹Therefore, I will bring my case against you,”

says the Lord.

“I will even bring charges against your children’s children

in the years to come.

¹⁰“Go west and look in the land of Cyprus;

go east and search through the land of Kedar.

Has anyone ever heard of anything

as strange as this?

¹¹Has any nation ever traded its gods for new ones,

even though they are not gods at all?

Yet my people have exchanged their glorious God

for worthless idols!

¹²The heavens are shocked at such a thing

and shrink back in horror and dismay,”

says the Lord.

¹³“For my people have done two evil things:

They have abandoned me—

the fountain of living water.

And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns

that can hold no water at all!