Jeremiah Chapter 2

Israel Forsakes God

¹ A Message from the LORD came to Me:

² “Go proclaim in Jerusalem that the LORD says,

      ‘I remember your devotion when you were young,

            your love as my betrothed,

            your following me in the open country

                  through uncultivated land.

      ³ Israel was holy to me,

            the first fruits of my harvest;

      everybody that tried to eat some of it became guilty,

            and disaster fell on them.’”                                                

Jer 2:1-3

⁴ A Message from the LORD to the House of Jacob

and the Families of Israel

⁵ The LORD says,

      “What did your ancestors find wrong with me

            that they left me and followed emptiness

            and became empty themselves?

      ⁶ They didn’t say, ‘Where’s the LORD

            that brought us out of Egypt

            and led us through the wilderness,

                  through deserts and pits,

                        drought and deep darkness,

                  through land nobody crossed,

                        where nobody lived?’                                    

Jer 2:4-6

      ⁷ I brought you to a productive land

            to eat the good things it produced,

      but you defiled it

            and made my permanent possession detestable.

      ⁸ The priests didn’t say, ‘Where’s the LORD?’

            Those who administered the Law didn’t know me;

            the rulers sinned against me;

            the prophets prophesied by Baal

                  and followed things that didn’t profit.                 

Jer 2:7-8

⁹ “So I’ll contend with you and your grandsons.

¹⁰ Sail to Cyprus and see;

      send to Kedar and look carefully

            to see if there’s anything like this!

¹¹ Has any nation ever changed gods

            to what weren’t gods?

      But my people have exchanged their honor

            for what are worthless.

¹² Be appalled at that, sky;

         shudder and be dismayed.

¹³ My people have committed two sins:

      they’ve left me,

            the fountain of living water,

      and hewed out cracked cisterns

            that can’t hold water.                                                

Jer 2:9-13

¹⁴ “Is Israel a slave or a home-born servant?

      Why has he become prey?

¹⁵ Young lions have roared at him loudly;

they’ve made his country a wasteland

      and destroyed his towns without residents.

¹⁶ Egyptians from Memphis and Tahpanhes

      have broken the crown on his head.

¹⁷ Haven’t you done this to yourself

      by leaving the LORD your God,

      when he was leading you along his way?                        

Jer 2:14-17

¹⁸ What are you doing on the road to Egypt

      to drink the water in the Nile?

Why go to Assyria

      to drink the water of the Euphrates?

¹⁹ Your own sins will correct you;

      your apostasies will rebuke you.

Know then that it’s sinful, a bitter thing

      to leave the LORD your God;

you don’t respect me at all,” the Lord GOD of hosts says.    

Jer 2:18-19

²⁰ “Long ago I broke your yoke

      and tore off your slave chains;

but you said, ‘I won’t serve!’

On every tall hill under every green tree,

      you’ve lain down like a prostitute.

²¹ Yet I planted you as a choice stock,

      as faithful seed.

How then have you turned yourself

      into the degenerate sprouts of a wild vine?

²² Though you wash yourself with lye and lots of soap,

I can still see the stain from your sin,”

                                                the Lord GOD says.                

Jer 2:20-22

Israel an Unfaithful Wife

²³ “How can you keep saying, ‘I’m not defiled;

      I haven’t gone after the images of Baal’?

Look at your way in the valleys!

      Acknowledge what you’ve done!

You’re a restless young camel,

            pacing back and forth,

         ²⁴a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,

            in her heat sniffing the wind.

            Who can control her?

They don’t need to waste energy looking for her;

      she’ll come to them in her month.

²⁵ Don’t run after them till your feet are sore

         and your throat’s dry.

But you said, ‘Don’t try to change me!

      I love those foreign gods;

      I’ll keep living their way.’                                               

Jer 2:23-25

²⁶ “Like a thief embarrassed at getting caught,

            the House of Israel is embarrassed—

      they, their kings and officials,

            priests and prophets,

         ²⁷who say to a tree, ‘You’re my father,’

            to a stone, ‘You’re my mother.’

They turn their backs on me;

but when trouble comes, they’ll call out,

      ‘Get up and save us.’

²⁸ Where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Have them save you if they can.

Judah, you have as many gods

      as you have towns.                                                           

Jer 2:26-28

²⁹ “Why complain to me?

      You’ve all sinned against me.

³⁰ I’ve disciplined you for nothing;

      you didn’t respond to it.

Your sword has killed your prophets

      like a ravenous lion kills prey.

³¹ Generation, listen to the LORD’s message.

      Have I been a desert to Israel

      or a land of deep darkness?

Why do my people say, ‘We’re free to roam;

      we won’t come to you anymore’?                                    

Jer 2:29-31

³² Can a young woman forget her jewelry,

      or a bride her wedding dress?

Yet my people have forgotten me time and again.

³³ You scheme so well to find love!

      You’ve even taught immoral women how to do it

³⁴ The blood of the innocent poor

      you’ve spattered on your clothes

      though you didn’t catch them breaking in;

            but despite that

         ³⁵you say, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong;

            surely he’s not mad at me!’                                       

Jer 2:32-35

³⁶ How lightly you gad around from one way to another;

      Egypt will humble you like Assyria did.

³⁷ You’ll leave here with your hands on your head,

         because the LORD has rejected the ones you depend on;

      you won’t prosper by them.”                                           

Jer 2:36-37