LEB JER Chapter 2

Yahweh Remembers Israel’s Faithfulness

2 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,[fn]

• 2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,[fn] ‘Thus says Yahweh,“I remember concerning you the loyal love of your childhood,[fn]
  • the love of your betrothal-time,
• your going[fn] after me in the desert,[fn]
  • in the land not sown.
  • 3 was holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce.
• All those who ate it were held guilty;
  • disaster came to them,”[fn] Yahweh.’ ”

The Unfaithfulness of Israel’s Ancestors

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the clans[fn] of the house of Israel.

• 5 Thus says Yahweh:“What injustice did your ancestors[fn] find in me
  • that they were far from me,
• and they went after the vanity,
  • and they became vain?
  • 6  ‘Where is Yahweh,
• the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
  • the one who led us in the desert,[fn]
• in a land of desert plains and gorges,[fn]
  • in a land of dryness and deep darkness,
• in a land[fn]
  • and no human lives there?’
  • 7  to eat its fruit, and its good things.[fn]
• But you entered and defiled my land,
  • and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.[fn]
  • 8 is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law did not know me,
• and the shepherds have[fn]
  • and the prophets prophesied by Baal,
• and they went after things which do not profit.

The Unfaithfulness of Contemporary Israel

• 9 [fn] I again bring a lawsuit against you,”[fn] Yahweh, “and with[fn] I bring a lawsuit.
• 10 to the coasts of Cyprus and look, and send to Kedar and consider very closely,
• and see if there has been a thing like this:
• 11 are not gods! But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.
• 12 O heavens, at this, and shudder; be utterly desolate,”[fn] Yahweh.
• 13  they have forsaken me, the source[fn] of living water,
• to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
• 14 Is Israel a slave? Or[fn] Why has he become plunder?
• 15 The young lions have roared against him, they have[fn] their voices.[fn]
• And they have made his land as horror;
  • his cities are destroyed,[fn] an inhabitant.
  • 16  will[fn] your skull.[fn]
  • 17  by forsaking Yahweh, your God,
  • at the time of your leading in the way?
  • 18 [fn] the way of Egypt to drink the waters of the Shihor?
• And[fn] the way of Assyria
  • to drink the waters of the[fn]
  • 19  and your apostasies will reprove you.
• Therefore know and see that it is evil and bitter,
  • your forsaking of Yahweh, your God,
• and fear of me is not in you,”
  • [fn] the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
  • 20  you tore to pieces your bonds.
• And you said, ‘I will not serve!’
  • But on every high hill and under every leafy tree
  • you were lying down as a prostitute.
  • 21 as a choice vine, all of it a seed of trustworthiness.
• How then have you altered before me
  • into something that is degenerate, the foreign vine?
  • 22  and you[fn]
• your guilt is sticking as a stain[fn] me,”
  • [fn] the Lord Yahweh.
  • 23  I have not gone after the Baals?’
• Look at your way in the valley,
  • know what you have done.
• You are a young she-camel,
  • interweaving her ways.
  • 24 the desert,[fn]in the desire of her soul.
• She gasps for wind in her rutting time.
  • Who can quell[fn] her lust?
• All those who seek her will not grow weary,
  • in her month they will find her.
  • 25 being barefoot, and your throat from thirst.
• But you said, ‘ It is hopeless.
  • No! For I have loved strangers,
  • and after them I will go.’[fn]
  • 26 the shame of a thief when he is caught in the act, so the house of Israel will be ashamed.
• They, their kings, their officials,
  • and their priests, and their prophets.
  • 27 Those who say to the tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to the stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’
• For they have turned their[fn] to me, and not their faces.
  • But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us.’
  • 28 are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble.
• For according to the number of your towns
  • are your gods, O Judah.
  • 29  All of you have[fn][fn] Yahweh.
  • 30 [fn] I have struck your children. They accepted no discipline.
• Your sword devoured your prophets,
  • like a ravening[fn] lion.
  • 31  Have I been a desert[fn] to Israel? Or a land of great darkness?
• Why do my people say, ‘We roam about freely,
  • we will not come again to you’?
  • 32 [fn] Or a bride her sashes? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
  • 33 on your way to seek love![fn] even to the wicked woman you can teach your ways.
  • 34  the blood of the life of the innocent, the poor.
• You did not find them in the act of breaking into a house.
  • But in spite of all these things,
  • 35  surely his anger has turned away from me.’
• Look, I am entering into judgment with you
  • because of your saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
  • 36  Also by Egypt you will be put to shame,
  • just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
  • 37  with your hands on your head,
• for Yahweh has rejected[fn]
  • and you will not prosper through them.