Jeremiah 2:2-25

²“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says:

‘I remember the devotion of your youth,

your love as a bride,

how you followed Me in the wilderness,

in a land not sown.

³Israel was holy to the LORD,

the firstfruits of His harvest.

All who devoured her

found themselves guilty;

disaster came upon them,’”

declares the LORD.

⁴Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel.

⁵This is what the LORD says:

“What fault did your fathers find in Me

that they strayed so far from Me,

and followed worthless idols,

and became worthless themselves?

⁶They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD

who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

who led us through the wilderness,

through a land of deserts and pits,

a land of drought and darkness,

a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

⁷I brought you into a fertile land

to eat its fruit and bounty,

but you came and defiled My land,

and made My inheritance detestable.

⁸The priests did not ask,

‘Where is the LORD?’

The experts in the law no longer knew Me,

and the leaders rebelled against Me.

The prophets prophesied by Baal

and followed useless idols.

⁹Therefore, I will contend with you again,

declares the LORD,

and I will bring a case

against your children’s children.

¹⁰Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus

and take a look;

send to Kedar and consider carefully;

see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹Has a nation ever changed its gods,

though they are no gods at all?

Yet My people have exchanged their Glory

for useless idols.

¹²Be stunned by this, O heavens;

be shocked and utterly appalled,”

¹³“For My people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken Me,

the fountain of living water,

and they have dug their own cisterns—

broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

¹⁴Is Israel a slave?

Was he born into slavery?

Why then has he become prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him;

they have growled with a loud voice.

They have laid waste his land;

his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

¹⁶The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes

have shaved the crown of your head.

¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourself

by forsaking the LORD your God

when He led you in the way?

¹⁸Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt

to drink the waters of the Nile?

What will you gain on your way to Assyria

to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

¹⁹Your own evil will discipline you;

your own apostasies will reprimand you.

Consider and realize

how evil and bitter it is

for you to forsake the LORD your God

and to have no fear of Me,”

²⁰“For long ago you broke your yoke

and tore off your chains,

saying, ‘I will not serve!’

Indeed, on every high hill

and under every green tree

you lay down as a prostitute.

²¹I had planted you like a choice vine

from the very best seed.

How could you turn yourself before Me

into a rotten, wild vine?

²²Although you wash with lye

and use an abundance of soap,

the stain of your guilt

is still before Me,”

²³“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;

I have not run after the Baals’?

Look at your behavior in the valley;

acknowledge what you have done.

You are a swift young she-camel

galloping here and there,

²⁴a wild donkey at home in the wilderness,

sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire.

Who can restrain her passion?

All who seek her need not weary themselves;

in mating season they will find her.

²⁵You should have kept your feet from going bare

and your throat from being thirsty.

But you said, ‘It is hopeless!

For I love foreign gods,

and I must go after them.’

Related Resources from Heartlight

Cross References for Jeremiah 2:2-25

The Berean Standard Bible