Jeremiah 2:28–37

²⁸But where are your gods

that you made for yourself?

Let them arise, if they can save you,

in your time of trouble;

for as many as your cities

are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹“Why do you complain against me?

You have all rebelled against me,

says the Lord.

³⁰In vain have I smitten your children,

they took no correction;

your own sword devoured your prophets

like a ravening lion.

³¹And you, O generation, heed the word of the Lord.

Have I been a wilderness to Israel,

or a land of thick darkness?

Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,

we will come no more to thee’?

³²Can a maiden forget her ornaments,

or a bride her attire?

Yet my people have forgotten me

days without number.

³³“How well you direct your course

to seek lovers!

So that even to wicked women

you have taught your ways.

³⁴Also on your skirts is found

the lifeblood of guiltless poor;

you did not find them breaking in.

Yet in spite of all these things

³⁵you say, ‘I am innocent;

surely his anger has turned from me.’

Behold, I will bring you to judgment

for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶How lightly you gad about,

changing your way!

You shall be put to shame by Egypt

as you were put to shame by Assyria.

³⁷From it too you will come away

with your hands upon your head,

for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,

and you will not prosper by them.