LEB JER section

The Unfaithfulness of Contemporary Israel

9 Therefore[fn] I again bring a lawsuit against you,” declares[fn] Yahweh,
- “and with your children[fn] I bring a lawsuit.
10 For go over 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 Has a nation exchanged gods? And they are not gods!
- But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder;
- be utterly desolate,” declares[fn] Yahweh.
13 “For my people have committed two evils:
- 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 a slave born in a house ?[fn]
- Why has he become plunder?
15 The young lions have roared against him,
- they have raised[fn] their voices.[fn]
And they have made his land as horror;
- his cities are destroyed, without[fn] an inhabitant.
16 Moreover, people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
- will shave[fn] your skull.[fn]
17 Did you not do this to yourself,
- by forsaking Yahweh, your God,
- at the time of your leading in the way?
18 And now why do you go[fn] the way of Egypt
- to drink the waters of the Shihor?
And why do you go[fn] the way of Assyria
- to drink the waters of the Euphrates ?[fn]
19 Your wickedness will chastise you,
- 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,”
- declares[fn] the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
20 “For from long ago you have broken your yoke,
- 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 Yet I planted you 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 For if you wash with natron,
- and you use much soap ,[fn]
your guilt is sticking as a stain before[fn] me,”
- declares[fn] the Lord Yahweh.
23 “How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself,
- 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 A wild ass accustomed to 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 Restrain your foot from 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 As 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 backs[fn] to me, and not their faces.
- But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us.’
28 But where 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 Why do you complain to me?
- All of you have rebelled against me ,”[fn] declares[fn] Yahweh.
30 “For in vain[fn] I have struck your children.
- They accepted no discipline.
Your sword devoured your prophets,
- like a ravening[fn] lion.
31 O generation, you see the word of Yahweh.
- 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 Can a young woman forget her ornaments?[fn] Or a bride her sashes?
- Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
33 How well you do on your way to seek love!
- Therefore[fn] even to the wicked woman you can teach your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
- 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 yet you say, ‘But I am innocent,
- 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 How you go about so much changing your way!
- Also by Egypt you will be put to shame,
- just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 Also from there you will come out
- with your hands on your head,
for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust ,[fn]
- and you will not prosper through them.
3 A saying :[fn] ‘Look, if a man divorces his wife,
- and she goes from him and she becomes another man’s wife ,[fn]
- will he return to her again?’
Will not that land be greatly defiled?
And you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
- would you now return to me?” declares[fn] Yahweh.
2 “Lift up your eyes at the barren heights,
- and see where you have not been ravished.
Beside the roads you sat for them like an Arab in the desert,[fn]
- and you have defiled the land
with your fornication
- and with your wickedness.
3 Therefore rain showers have been withheld,
- and the spring rain has not come.
Yet you have[fn] the forehead of a woman prostitute,
- you refuse to be ashamed.
4 Have you not just now called to me,
- ‘My father, you are the close friend of my youth?
5 Will he be angry forever ?[fn]
- Will he maintain it always ’?[fn]
Look, you have spoken,
- but you have done all the evil that you could.”[fn]

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”

3:? Literally “to say”

3:? Literally “and she becomes to a man another”

3:? Literally “a declaration of”

3:? Or “wilderness”

3:? Literally “it is for you”

3:? Literally “to eternity”

3:? Literally “to duration”

3:? Literally “you have done the evil and you were able”

LEB by section JER 2:9

The Unfaithfulness of Contemporary Israel