Moff JOS 1 CHR 2 CHR EZRA NEH EST JOB PSA PROV ECC SNG JER LAM EZE DAN HOS JOEL AMOS OBA YNA MIC NAH HAB ZEP HAG ZEC MAL MAT MARK LUKE YHN ACTs ROM 1 COR 2 COR GAL EPH PHP COL 1 TH 2 TH 1 TIM 2 TIM TIT PHM HEB YAC 1 PET 2 PET 1 YHN 2 YHN 3 YHN YUD REV

JER C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24 C25 C26 C27 C28 C29 C30 C31 C32 C33 C34 C35 C36 C37 C38 C39 C40 C41 C42 C43 C44 C45 C46 C47 C48 C49 C50 C51 C52

Moff by section JER 2:1

⌂ ← JER 2:1–2:37 → ║ ©

Jeremiah 2

2 The word of the Eternal came to me, 2 bidding me go and proclaim this message from the Eternal in the hearing of Jerusalem:

remember your early devotion,

the love of your bridal days

how through the wolds you followed me,

through lands unsown;

Israel was set apart for the Eternal,

so dear to him, so sacred

that her spoilers were all punished;

ill befell them.”

Listen to the Eternal’s word, O house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel:

“What did your fathers find wrong in me that they went far from me,

went after empty idols and became empty themselves?

They never said, ‘Where is the Eternal, who brought us up from Egypt’s land

who led us through the desert, through a land of steppes and holes,

through a land of drought and darkness deep,

a land where no one travels, no one dwells?’

Yes, and I brought you to a garden-land, to eat the fruit and good things of it

but when you entered, you befouled my land and made my heritage abominable--

the priests never asked, ‘Where is the Eternal?’

those who handled the law cared nothing for me,

the rulers rebelled against me,

the prophets prophesied by Baal and sought useless idols.

So I must still indict you, the Eternal says,

and indict your children’s children;

cross to Cyprus and the west, and see,

send east to the Arabs, and inquire--

see if there ever was the like of this;

has any nation ever changed its gods (gods that are no gods)?

But my people have changed their Glory for a useless thing!

Well may the heavens be appalled and shudder;

for my people have done double wrong,

they have forsaken me, the reservoir of fresh water,

and hewn out cisterns for themselves,

leaky cisterns that cannot hold any water!

Is Israel a defenceless serf

a home-born slave,

that he should be plundered

and his towns laid waste?

Young lions roar at him,

growling aloud;

they lay his land desolate

empty of inhabitants;

men of Memphis and of Daphn

strip you to be slaves;

have you not brought this on yourself,

by abandoning your God?

What right had you to go to Egypt,

to drink from the Nile?

What right had you to go to Assyria,

to drink from the Euphrates?

Your own wickedness will punish you,

your apostasy will chastise you.

See for yourself how sore it is for you

to abandon me,

to have no reverence for me

says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

Long ago you broke your yok

and snapped your harness,

you said, ‘I will not serve thee’;

and on every height,

under every green tree

you wantoned like a harlot.

Yet I had planted you a noble vine,

of right good stock.

And into what a foul thing you have turned,

a vine wild and degenerate!

You may wash yourself with ly

and plenty soap,

but I see your sin of the deepest dye,

says the Lord Eternal.

How dare you say, ‘I am not stained,

I have not sought the Baals’

Look at your life in the Valley

think how you have carried on:

you are a swift young camel

that doubles on her tracks,

a heifer running wild in the wold,

heated with passion

snuffing the breeze, in the rutting season-

who can control her?

No male need trouble to search for her;

all can find her at mating-time.

Do not run your feet bare,

your throat dry.

But ‘It is no use to talk;

I am in love with foreign gods,’ you cry,

‘and after them I hie.’

Like a thief caught and confounded,

so shall Israel’s house be confounded,

calling a pole ‘my father,’

calling a pillar ‘my mother’!

They have turned their backs to me,

and not their faces

and yet they cry, when trouble comes,

‘Arise and save us’!

But where are your gods,

the gods you made for yourself?

Let them arise to save you,

if they can, in your trouble!

(for you have as many god

as towns, O Judah;

and as the streets are in Jerusalem,

so sacrifices abound to Baal.)

Then why upbraid me,

when you are godless, all

when you are rebels, all?--

the Eternal protests.

In vain I struck your citizens,

they would not be corrected;

the sword devoured your prophets

like a lion, a man-eater,

but fear you would not,

would not heed the word of the Eternal.

Have I been a desert to Israel

or a land of gloom?

Then why do my people say, ‘We please ourselves,

we will not come to thee’?

Can a girl forget her trinkets

or a bride her sash?

And yet my people have forgotten me,

days without number!

Your course you have directed

to intrigues of love,

and trained yourself to follow

evil paths;

your hands are stained

with innocent blood;

and for all thi

I will arraign you.

Yet you say, ‘I am innocent

surely his anger is over.’

I will condemn you for saying,

‘I have not sinned.’

Why do you cheapen yourself

by shifting your course

you will find Egypt fail you

as Assyria did;

you will have to leave Egypt also,

hands clasped on head for shame;

for the Eternal has rejected those you rely on

and nothing will you gain by them.