LEB JER chapter 2

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.

2:1 Literally “to say”

2:2 Literally “to say”

2:2 Or “youth”

2:2 Or “walking”

2:2 Or “wilderness”

2:2 Literally “a declaration of”

2:4 Or “families”

2:5 Or “fathers”

2:5 Or “wilderness”

2:5 Hebrew “gorge”

2:5 Literally “no man passes through in it”

2:5 Hebrew “good thing”

2:5 Or “abomination”

2:5 Literally “broken with me”

2:5 Literally “To thus”

2:5 Literally “a declaration of”

2:5 Literally “sons of your sons”

2:5 Literally “a declaration of”

2:5 Or “fountain”

2:5 Literally “born of a house”

2:5 Literally “given”

2:5 Hebrew “voice”

2:5 Literally “from not”

2:5 Literally “pasture”

2:5 Or “crown of your head”

2:5 Literally “what for you”

2:5 Literally “river”

2:5 Literally “a declaration of”

2:5 Literally “make numerous for yourself alkaline salt”

2:5 Literally “to the face of”

2:5 Literally “a declaration of”

2:5 Or “wilderness”

2:5 Or “restrain”

2:5 Or “walk”

2:5 Literally “neck”

2:5 Literally “broken with me”

2:5 Literally “a declaration of”

2:5 Literally “the vanity”

2:5 Or “destroying”

2:5 Or “wilderness”

2:5 Or “jewelry”

2:5 Literally “To thus”

2:5 Literally “in your objects of trust”

LEB JER Chapter 2