Jeremiah 2

1The word of the LORD came to me: 2Go and call out so that Jerusalem hears: The LORD says this: I remember the loyal love of your youth, how you loved me as a bride, how you went after me through the wilderness, through a land where nothing was sown. 3Israel was set apart as holy to the LORD, the first share of his harvest. Whoever ate of it was held guilty, and disaster came on them, declares the LORD.

4Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob, all you clans of the house of Israel. 5The LORD says this: What did your ancestors find wrong in me, that they went so far from me, and went after worthless idols and became worthless themselves? 6They did not ask, “Where is the LORD, the one who brought us up from Egypt’s land, who guided us in the wilderness, through a land of desert plains and pits, a land of drought and deep darkness, a land no one crosses and no one lives in?” 7I brought you into orchard land, to eat its fruit and its good things. But you came in and defiled my land; you made my inheritance something detestable. 8The priests did not ask, “Where is the LORD?” Those who handle the instruction did not know me; the shepherds rebelled against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that are of no profit. 9So I will go on bringing charges against you, declares the LORD, and I will bring charges against your children’s children. 10Go over to the coastlands of Kittim and look; send to Kedar and think it through with care; see whether anything like this has ever happened. 11Has any nation ever exchanged its gods, even though they are not gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glory for something that gives no help. 12Be horrified at this, you heavens; shudder and be utterly stunned, declares the LORD. 13For my people have committed two evils: they have abandoned me, the spring of living water, and cut out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water. 14Is Israel a slave? Was he born a slave in his master’s house? Then why has he become plunder? 15Young lions have roared against him; they have raised their voices. They have made his land a ruin; his towns are burned, with no one living there. 16Even the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes are stripping the crown of your head bare. 17Is this not what you have done to yourself in forsaking the LORD your God while he was leading you on the way? 18So now, what do you gain by taking the road to Egypt to drink the waters of the Shihor? What do you gain by taking the road to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates? 19Your own wickedness will punish you, and your turning away will convict you. Know, then, and see what an evil and bitter thing it is for you to forsake the LORD your God, with no dread of me in you, declares the Lord GOD of Armies. 20Long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your chains, and you said, “I will not transgress.” Yet on every high hill and under every leafy tree you sprawled like a prostitute. 21I planted you as a choice vine, from seed that was wholly true. How then have you turned, before me, into the wild shoots of a strange vine? 22Even if you scrub yourself with washing soda and use soap in plenty, your guilt remains a stain before me, declares the Lord GOD. 23How can you say, “I have not made myself unclean, I have not gone after the Baals”? Look at your path in the valley; admit what you have done, you restless young she-camel, running this way and that! 24A wild donkey at home in the wilderness sniffs the wind in her longing. In her season of heat, who can turn her back? The males that seek her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her. 25Do not run until your feet are bare and your throat is dry with thirst. But you said, “It is no use! No, I love strangers, and I will go after them.” 26As a thief is shamed when he is found out, so the house of Israel is put to shame: they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, 27who call a tree “My father” and tell a stone, “You gave birth to us.” They have turned their backs to me, not their faces; yet when trouble comes they say, “Rise up and save us!” 28Where then are the gods you made for yourself? Let them get up, if they can save you when trouble comes to you. For you have as many gods as you have towns, Judah.

29Why do you bring charges against me? You have all rebelled against me, declares the LORD. 30It was no use that I struck your children; they would not accept discipline. Your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravaging lion. 31And you, this generation, pay heed to the word of the LORD: Have I been a desert to Israel, or a land of deep gloom? Why then do my people say, “We wander where we please; we will not come back to you”? 32Would a young woman forget her jewels, a bride the sash she wears? Yet my people have forgotten me days beyond counting. 33How skillfully you find your way to look for love! So you have even taught your ways to wicked women. 34Even on the hems of your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor. You did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this, 35you said, “I am guiltless; his anger has surely left me.” Now I will bring you to judgment because you say, “I have not sinned.” 36How lightly you go about changing your course! You will be put to shame by Egypt too, just as you were put to shame by Assyria. 37You will come away from Egypt too with your hands on your head, because the LORD has rejected the ones you rely on, and you will not succeed with their help.