Jeremiah 2:1-13

Holman Christian Standard Bible

I remember the loyalty of your youth,^(A)
your love as a bride—
how you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
³ Israel was holy to the Lord,^(B)
the firstfruits of His harvest.^(C)
All who ate of it found themselves guilty;^(D)
disaster came on them.”
This is the Lord’s declaration.

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob
and all families of the house of Israel.
⁵ This is what the Lord says:

What fault did your fathers find in Me^(E)
that they went so far from Me,
followed worthless idols,^(F)
and became worthless themselves?^(G)
6 They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord^(H)
who brought us from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,^(I)
through a land of deserts and ravines,
through a land of drought and darkness,^[a]
a land no one traveled through
and where no one lived?”
⁷ I brought you to a fertile land^(J)
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled My land;^(K)
you made My inheritance^(L) detestable.
⁸ The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”
The experts in the law no longer knew Me,^(M)
and the rulers^(N) rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by^[b] Baal^(O)
and followed useless idols.^(P)

⁹ Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.
This is the Lord’s declaration.
I will bring a case against your children’s children.^(Q)
10 Cross over to Cyprus^[c](R) and take a look.
Send someone to Kedar^(S) and consider carefully;
see if there has ever been anything like this:
¹¹ Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?^(T)
(But they were not gods!^(U))
Yet My people have exchanged their^[d] Glory
for useless idols.^(V)
12 Be horrified at this, heavens;^(W)
be shocked and utterly appalled.
This is the Lord’s declaration.

¹³ For My people have committed a double evil:
They have abandoned Me,^(X)
the fountain of living water,^(Y)
and dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.^(Z)