Jeremiah

¹ The word of the Lord came to me:

² “‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.

³ the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’” declares the Lord.

⁴ all you clans of the house of Israel.

⁵ “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.

⁶ who brought us up out of Egypt and led us through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

⁷ to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable.

⁸ ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols.

⁹ declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.

¹⁰ send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹ (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols.

¹² and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord.

¹³ They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

¹⁴ Why then has he become plunder?

¹⁵ they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted.

¹⁶ have shaved the crown of your head.

¹⁷ by forsaking the Lord your God when he led you in the way?

¹⁸ to drink water from the Shihor? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the River?

¹⁹ your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

²⁰ and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve you!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.

²¹ of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against me into a corrupt, wild vine?

²² and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,” declares the Sovereign Lord.

²³ I have not run after the Baals’? See how you behaved in the valley; consider what you have done. You are a swift she-camel running here and there,

²⁴ sniffing the wind in her craving— in her heat who can restrain her? Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves; at mating time they will find her.

²⁵ and your throat is dry. But you said, ‘It’s no use! I love foreign gods, and I must go after them.’

²⁶ so the house of Israel is disgraced— they, their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets.

²⁷ and to stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me and not their faces; yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’

²⁸ Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.

²⁹ You have all rebelled against me,” declares the Lord.

³⁰ they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.

³¹ “Have I been a desert to Israel or a land of great darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam; we will come to you no more’?

³² a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

³³ Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.

³⁴ the lifeblood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this

³⁵ he is not angry with me.’ But I will pass judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶ changing your ways? You will be disappointed by Egypt as you were by Assyria.

³⁷ with your hands on your head, for the Lord has rejected those you trust; you will not be helped by them.