Jeremiah 2

The word of the LORD came to me: “Go and proclaim within Jerusalem’s hearing: This is what the LORD says: ‘I remember your devotion in your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had not been sown. Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who devoured him became guilty;
disaster came upon them,’ declares the LORD.” Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob and all the clans of the house of Israel. This is what the LORD says: “What wrong did your ancestors find in me, that they went far from me?
They followed what was worthless and became worthless themselves. They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and deep darkness, a land no one passed through and no one inhabited?’ I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and its good things.
But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance an abomination. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handled the law did not know me.
The shepherds rebelled against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that could not help. Therefore I will still bring my case against you,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring my case against your children’s children. Cross over to the coastlands of Kittim and look;
send to Kedar and examine carefully.
See whether anything like this has ever happened. Has a nation exchanged its gods, though they are no gods?
Yet my people have exchanged their glory for what cannot help. Be appalled at this, heavens;
shudder and be utterly desolate,” declares the LORD. “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Is Israel a slave?
Was he born a slave in the household?
Why has he become plunder? Young lions have roared against him;
they have raised their voices.
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are burned, without an inhabitant. Even the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes have laid bare the crown of your head. Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when he was leading you along the way? And now, why take the road to Egypt to drink the waters of Shihor?
Why take the road to Assyria to drink the waters of the River? Your own wickedness will discipline you, and your apostasies will rebuke you.
Know and see how evil and bitter it is to forsake the LORD your God and have no fear of me,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts. “Long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, but you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every leafy tree you sprawled as a prostitute. I planted you as a choice vine, entirely from genuine seed.
How then have you turned into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine before me? Though you wash yourself with washing soda and use soap in abundance, the stain of your guilt remains before me,” declares the Lord GOD. “How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself;
I have not followed the Baals’?
Look at your way in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.
You are a swift young she-camel, entangling her paths, a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, sniffing the wind in her craving.
Who can restrain her in her heat?
None who seek her need tire themselves;
in her month they will find her. Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless!
No, for I love strangers, and I will go after them.’ As a thief is ashamed when caught, so the house of Israel is ashamed—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets. They say to a piece of wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me, rather than their faces.
But in their time of disaster they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’ Where are the gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up, if they can save you in your time of disaster!
For you have as many gods as cities, Judah. Why do you bring your case against me?
You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD. “In vain I struck your children;
they accepted no discipline.
Your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravaging lion. You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of deep darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We are free;
we will no longer come to you’? Does a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her sashes?
Yet my people have forgotten me for days beyond counting. How skillfully you prepare your way to seek love!
So you have even taught wicked women your ways. Even on the skirts of your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor.
You did not catch them breaking in.
Yet despite all this, you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned away from me.’ Look, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’ Why do you wander about so much, changing your way?
You will be put to shame by Egypt, just as you were put to shame by Assyria. From there too you will leave with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust, and you will not prosper through them.”

Rights and attribution