Jeremiah 2
2
Israel Accused of Apostasy
1The word of the Lord came to me: 2“Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the Lord says:
I remember the loyalty of your youth, # Ezk 16:8,60; Hos 2:15; Rv 2:4
your love as a bride —
how you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
3Israel was holy to the Lord, # Dt 7:6
the firstfruits of His harvest. # Jms 1:18
All who ate of it found themselves guilty; # Gn 12:3; Ps 105:14-15; Is 41:11
disaster came on them.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.
4Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob
and all families of the house of Israel.
5This is what the Lord says:
What fault did your fathers find in Me # Is 5:4; Mc 6:3
that they went so far from Me,
followed worthless idols, # 2Kg 17:15; Jr 2:25; Hs 2:5
and became worthless themselves? # Ps 115:8; Hs 9:10; Rm 1:21
6They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord # Jdg 6:13; Jb 35:10
who brought us from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness, # Dt 8:15; 32:10
through a land of deserts and ravines,
through a land of drought and darkness, # Or shadow of death
a land no one traveled through
and where no one lived? ”
7I brought you to a fertile land # Ex 3:8; Dt 8:7-10; Jr 4:26
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled My land; # Nm 35:33; Ezk 36:17
you made My inheritance # Jr 16:18 detestable.
8The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord? ”
The experts in the law no longer knew Me, # Hs 4:6; Mal 2:7; Lk 11:52
and the rulers # Jr 23:1-4; Ezk 34 rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by # = in the name of Baal # Jr 2:23; 9:14
and followed useless idols. # Hab 2:8
9Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will bring a case against your children’s children. # Ex 20:5; Is 3:13; Mc 6:1-8
10Cross over to Cyprus # Lit to the islands of Kittim # Gn 10:4; Nm 24:24; Is 23:1,12; Am 6:2; Ac 13:4 and take a look.
Send someone to Kedar # Ps 120:5 and consider carefully;
see if there has ever been anything like this:
11Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? # Mc 4:5
(But they were not gods! # Jr 16:20; Gl 4:8)
Yet My people have exchanged their # Ancient Jewish tradition reads My Glory
for useless idols. # Ps 106:20; Hs 4:7; Rm 1:23; 1Pt 1:18
12Be horrified at this, heavens; # Dt 32:1; Is 1:2; Mc 6:1
be shocked and utterly appalled.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
13For My people have committed a double evil:
They have abandoned Me, # Jdg 10:13
the fountain of living water, # Ps 36:9; Jr 17:13; Jn 4:10
and dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water. # Is 55:2; Gl 1:6-7
Consequences of Apostasy
14Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery? # Lit born of a house
Why else has he become a prey?
15The young lions have roared at him; # Is 5:29
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land. # Is 1:7
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
16The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes # Jr 44:1; 46:14,19; Ezk 30:13,16,18
have also broken your skull.
17Have you not brought this on yourself # Jr 4:18
by abandoning the Lord your God
while He was leading you along the way?
18Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt # Is 30:1-2; 31:1
to drink the waters of the Nile? # Lit of Shihor
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria # Hs 7:11
to drink the waters of the Euphrates? # Is 8:7
19Your own evil will discipline you; # Is 3:9; Hs 5:5
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter # Jr 4:18 it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.
20For long ago I # LXX reads you broke your yoke; # Lv 26:13; Is 10:27; Nah 1:13
I # LXX reads you tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve! ”
On every high hill
and under every green tree # Dt 12:2; 1Kg 14:23; 2Kg 17:10; Is 57:5; Jr 3:6; Ezk 6:13; Hs 4:13
you lie down like a prostitute. # Ezk 16:28; Hs 2:5
21I planted you, a choice vine # Gn 49:11; Ps 80:8; Is 5:2
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine? # Is 5:4
22Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of soap, # Ps 51:2,7; Mal 3:2; Eph 5:26
the stain of your sin is still in front of Me. # Ps 90:8
This is the Lord God’s declaration.
23How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”? # Jr 2:8; 9:14
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done. # Gn 3:13; 1Sm 15:13; Pr 28:13; Jr 3:13; 1Jn 1:8
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,
24a wild donkey # Jb 39:5; Hs 8:9 at home # Lit donkey taught in the wilderness.
She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can control her passion?
All who look for her will not become tired;
they will find her in her mating season. # Lit her month
25Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless; # Jr 18:12
I love strangers, # Dt 32:16; Jr 3:13
and I will continue to follow them.”
26Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,
so the house of Israel has been put to shame. # Jr 2:36; 6:15; 8:9,12; Rm 6:21
They, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets # Ezr 9:7
27say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
For they have turned their back to Me
and not their face, # 2Ch 29:6; Jr 18:17; 32:33; Ezk 8:16
yet in their time of disaster # Jdg 10:9-10; Is 26:16 they beg,
“Rise up and save us! ”
28But where are your gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up and save you # Dt 32:37-38; Jdg 10:14; Is 45:20
in your time of disaster if they can,
for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.
Judgment Deserved
29Why do you bring a case against Me? # Jr 2:9
All of you have rebelled against Me.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
30I have struck down your children in vain;
they would not accept discipline. # Pr 3:11; Is 1:5; 9:13; Jr 5:3; 17:23; 32:33; Am 4:10
Your own sword has devoured your prophets # Mt 23:34
like a ravaging lion.
31Evil generation,
pay attention to the word of the Lord!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
or a land of dense darkness? # Jr 50:12; Hs 2:3
Why do My people claim,
“We will go where we want; # Or We have taken control, or We can roam
we will no longer come to You”?
32Can a young woman forget her jewelry # Is 61:10
or a bride her wedding sash?
Yet My people have forgotten Me # Ps 106:21; Jr 13:25; 18:15; Ezk 22:12; 23:35; Hs 8:14
for countless days.
33How skillfully you pursue love;
you also teach evil women your ways.
34Moreover, your skirts are stained
with the blood of the innocent poor. # 2Kg 21:16; 24:4; Ps 106:38; Jr 19:4; 22:3,17
You did not catch them breaking and entering. # Ex 22:2
But in spite of all these things
35you claim, “I am innocent. # Jb 33:9
His anger is sure to turn away from me.”
But I will certainly judge you
because you have said, “I have not sinned.” # Pr 28:13; 1Jn 1:8,10
36How unstable you are, # Jms 1:8
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt # Is 30:3
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37Moreover, you will be led out from here
with your hands on your head # 2Sm 13:19
since the Lord has rejected those you trust; # 1Sm 15:23,26; 2Kg 17:20; Jr 7:29
you will not succeed even with their help. # Lit with them
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Jeremiah 2
2
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 "Go, and cry out to the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus says the Lord: I have remembered you, taking pity on your youth and on the charity of your betrothal, when you followed me into the desert, into a land which is not sown.
3 Israel is holy to the Lord, the first of his fruits. All those who devour him commit an offense. Evils will overwhelm them, says the Lord."
4 Listen to the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel.
5 Thus says the Lord: "What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they would draw far away from me, and would walk after emptiness, and would become empty?
6 And they have not said: 'Where is the Lord, who caused us to ascend from the land of Egypt; who led us through the desert, through an uninhabited and impassable land, through a land of drought and of the image of death, through a land in which no one walked and in which no man lived?'
7 And I led you into the land of Carmel, so that you would eat from its fruit and from its excellence. And having entered it, you defiled my land, and you turned my inheritance into an abomination.
8 The priests have not sad: 'Where is the Lord?' And those who held the law did not know me. And the pastors betrayed me. And the prophets prophesied in Baal and followed idols.
9 Because of this, I will still contend in judgment against you, says the Lord, and I will dispute with your sons.
10 Cross over to the isles of Kittim, and gaze. And send to Kedar, and consider diligently. And see if anything like this has ever been done.
11 See if a nation has ever changed their gods, though certainly those are not gods. Yet truly, my people have exchanged their glory for an idol.
12 Be astonished at this, O heavens, and be utterly desolate, O gates of heaven, says the Lord.
13 For my people have done two evils. They have forsaken me, the Fountain of living water, and they have dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that are unable to hold water.
14 Is Israel a servant, or one born into slavery? Then why has he become a prey?
15 The lions have roared over him, and they have uttered their voice. They have set his land in solitude; his cities have been burned up, and there is no one who lives in them.
16 Likewise, the sons of Memphis and of Tahpanhes have defiled you, even to the top of the head.
17 Has this not been done to you because you abandoned the Lord your God, in that time when he was leading you by the way?
18 And now what do you want from the way of Egypt, but to drink their turbid water? And what do you want from the way of the Assyrians, but to drink the water of their river?
19 Your own malice will reprove you, and your own apostasy will rebuke you! But know and perceive this: it is an evil and bitter thing for you to forsake the Lord your God, and to be without my fear within you, says the Lord, the God of hosts.
20 From ancient times, you have broken my yoke; you have torn apart my bonds, and you have said, 'I will not serve.' For on every high hill, and under every leafy tree, you have been debased, O harlot.
21 Yet I planted you as an elect vineyard, with only true seed. Then how have you been turned away from me, toward that which is depraved, O strange vineyard?
22 Even if you wash yourself with soap, and increase your use of herbal soaps, you are still stained by your iniquity in my sight, says the Lord God.
23 How can you say: 'I have not been polluted. I have not walked after Baal?' Consider your ways in the steep valley. Acknowledge what you have done, so that you may be like a swift runner, following his course.
24 A wild donkey accustomed to solitude, out of the desire in his soul, caught the scent of his lover. Now nothing will turn him away from her. All those who seek her will not cease. But they will find her in her menstruation.
25 You should keep your foot from being naked, and your throat from being thirsty. But you have said: 'I have lost hope. I will not do it. For certainly, I have loved strangers, and I will walk after them.'
26 In the same way that a thief is confounded when he has been apprehended, so the house of Israel has been confounded, they and their kings, their leaders and priests and prophets.
27 For they say to a piece of wood, 'You are my father,' and to a stone, 'You have conceived me.' They have turned their back to me, and not their face. But in the time of their affliction, they will say: 'Rise up and deliver us.'
28 Where are your gods that you made for yourselves? Let them rise up and deliver you in the time of your affliction. For certainly, your gods were like the number of your cities, O Judah.
29 Why do you want to contend against me in judgment? You have all forsaken me, says the Lord.
30 I have struck your children to no effect; they have not accepted discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets. Your generation is like a raging lion.
31 Consider the word of the Lord. Have I become like a wilderness to Israel, or like a land late to bear fruit? Then why have my people said, 'We are withdrawing; we will no longer approach you'?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornament, or a bride the covering across her breast? Yet truly, my people have forgotten me, for innumerable days.
33 Why are you striving to claim that your way is good, as if to seek my love, when all the while you are also displaying your malice by your own way,
34 and in your armpits there is found the blood of poor and innocent souls? I have found them, not in ditches, but everywhere that I mentioned previously.
35 And you have said: 'I am innocent and without sin. And because of this, let your fury be turned away from me.' Behold, I will contend with you in judgment, because you have said: 'I have not sinned.'
36 How exceedingly vile you have become, repeating your ways again and again! And so, you will be ashamed of Egypt, just as you were ashamed of Assur.
37 For you will also depart from that place, and your hand will be upon your head. For the Lord has crushed your confidence, and you will have nothing prosperous by it."
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