Jeremiah 2:1-13

A message from the LORD came to me. The LORD said, “Go. Announce my message to the people in Jerusalem. I want everyone to hear it. Tell them, “Here is what the LORD says. “ ‘I remember how faithful you were to me when you were young. You loved me as if you were my bride. You followed me through the desert. Nothing had been planted there. Your people were holy to me. They were the first share of my harvest. All those who destroyed them were held guilty. And trouble came to their enemies,’ ” announces the LORD. People of Jacob, hear the LORD’s message. Listen, all you tribes of Israel. The LORD says, “What did your people of long ago find wrong with me? Why did they wander so far away from me? They worshiped worthless statues of gods. Then they themselves became worthless. They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD? He brought us up out of Egypt. He led us through a dry and empty land. He guided us through deserts and deep valleys. It was a land of total darkness where there wasn’t any rain. No one lived or traveled there.’ But I brought you into a land that has rich soil. I gave you its fruit and its finest food. In spite of that, you made my land impure. You turned it into something I hate. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who taught my law did not know me. The leaders refused to obey me. The prophets prophesied in the name of Baal. They worshiped worthless statues of gods. “So I am bringing charges against you again,” announces the LORD. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. Go over to the coasts of Cyprus and look. Send people to the land of Kedar and have them look closely. See if there has ever been anything like this. Has a nation ever changed its gods? Actually, they are not even gods at all. But my people have traded away their glorious God. They have traded me for worthless statues of gods. Sky above, be shocked over this. Tremble with horror,” announces the LORD. “My people have sinned twice. They have deserted me, even though I am the spring of water that gives life. And they have dug their own wells. But those wells are broken. They can’t hold any water.