Jeremiah 2
Lexham English Bible
Yahweh Remembers Israel’s Faithfulness
2 And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,[a] 2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,[b] ‘Thus says Yahweh,
“I remember concerning you the loyal love of your childhood,[c]
the love of your betrothal-time,
your going[d] after me in the desert,[e]
in the land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to Yahweh,
the first fruit of his produce.
All those who ate it were held guilty;
disaster came to them,” declares[f] Yahweh.’”
The Unfaithfulness of Israel’s Ancestors
4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the clans[g] of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says Yahweh:
“What injustice did your ancestors[h] find in me
that they were far from me,
and they went after the vanity,
and they became vain?
6 And they did not say,
‘Where is Yahweh,
the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
the one who led us in the desert,[i]
in a land of desert plains and gorges,[j]
in a land of dryness and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,[k]
and no human lives there?’
7 And I brought you to the land of the orchard,
to eat its fruit, and its good things.[l]
But you entered and defiled my land,
and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.[m]
8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’
and those who handle the law did not know me,
and the shepherds have rebelled against me,[n]
and the prophets prophesied by Baal,
and they went after things which do not profit.
The Unfaithfulness of Contemporary Israel
9 Therefore[o] I again bring a lawsuit against you,” declares[p] Yahweh,
“and with your children[q] I bring a lawsuit.
10 For go over to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
and send to Kedar and consider very closely,
and see if there has been a thing like this:
11 Has a nation exchanged gods? And they are not gods!
But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder;
be utterly desolate,” declares[r] Yahweh.
13 “For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the source[s] of living water,
to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
14 Is Israel a slave? Or a slave born in a house?[t]
Why has he become plunder?
15 The young lions have roared against him,
they have raised[u] their voices.[v]
And they have made his land as horror;
his cities are destroyed, without[w] an inhabitant.
16 Moreover, people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
will shave[x] your skull.[y]
17 Did you not do this to yourself,
by forsaking Yahweh, your God,
at the time of your leading in the way?
18 And now why do you go[z] the way of Egypt
to drink the waters of the Shihor?
And why do you go[aa] the way of Assyria
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?[ab]
19 Your wickedness will chastise you,
and your apostasies will reprove you.
Therefore know and see that it is evil and bitter,
your forsaking of Yahweh, your God,
and fear of me is not in you,”
declares[ac] the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.
20 “For from long ago you have broken your yoke,
you tore to pieces your bonds.
And you said, ‘I will not serve!’
But on every high hill and under every leafy tree
you were lying down as a prostitute.
21 Yet I planted you as a choice vine,
all of it a seed of trustworthiness.
How then have you altered before me
into something that is degenerate, the foreign vine?
22 For if you wash with natron,
and you use much soap,[ad]
your guilt is sticking as a stain before[ae] me,”
declares[af] the Lord Yahweh.
23 “How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself,
I have not gone after the Baals?’
Look at your way in the valley,
know what you have done.
You are a young she-camel,
interweaving her ways.
24 A wild ass accustomed to the desert,[ag]
in the desire of her soul.
She gasps for wind in her rutting time.
Who can quell[ah] her lust?
All those who seek her will not grow weary,
in her month they will find her.
25 Restrain your foot from being barefoot,
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless.
No! For I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.’[ai]
26 As the shame of a thief when he is caught in the act,
so the house of Israel will be ashamed.
They, their kings, their officials,
and their priests, and their prophets.
27 Those who say to the tree, ‘You are my father,’
and to the stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’
For they have turned their backs[aj] to me, and not their faces.
But in the time of their trouble they say, ‘Arise and save us.’
28 But where are your gods that you made for yourself?
Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble.
For according to the number of your towns
are your gods, O Judah.
29 Why do you complain to me?
All of you have rebelled against me,”[ak] declares[al] Yahweh.
30 “For in vain[am] I have struck your children.
They accepted no discipline.
Your sword devoured your prophets,
like a ravening[an] lion.
31 O generation, you see the word of Yahweh.
Have I been a desert[ao] to Israel? Or a land of great darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We roam about freely,
we will not come again to you’?
32 Can a young woman forget her ornaments?[ap] Or a bride her sashes?
Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
33 How well you do on your way to seek love!
Therefore[aq] even to the wicked woman you can teach your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
the blood of the life of the innocent, the poor.
You did not find them in the act of breaking into a house.
But in spite of all these things,
35 yet you say, ‘But I am innocent,
surely his anger has turned away from me.’
Look, I am entering into judgment with you
because of your saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 How you go about so much changing your way!
Also by Egypt you will be put to shame,
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 Also from there you will come out
with your hands on your head,
for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust,[ar]
and you will not prosper through them.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 2:1 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 2:2 Literally “to say”
- Jeremiah 2:2 Or “youth”
- Jeremiah 2:2 Or “walking”
- Jeremiah 2:2 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 2:3 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 2:4 Or “families”
- Jeremiah 2:5 Or “fathers”
- Jeremiah 2:6 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 2:6 Hebrew “gorge”
- Jeremiah 2:6 Literally “no man passes through in it”
- Jeremiah 2:7 Hebrew “good thing”
- Jeremiah 2:7 Or “abomination”
- Jeremiah 2:8 Literally “broken with me”
- Jeremiah 2:9 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 2:9 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 2:9 Literally “sons of your sons”
- Jeremiah 2:12 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 2:13 Or “fountain”
- Jeremiah 2:14 Literally “born of a house”
- Jeremiah 2:15 Literally “given”
- Jeremiah 2:15 Hebrew “voice”
- Jeremiah 2:15 Literally “from not”
- Jeremiah 2:16 Literally “pasture”
- Jeremiah 2:16 Or “crown of your head”
- Jeremiah 2:18 Literally “what for you”
- Jeremiah 2:18 Literally “what for you”
- Jeremiah 2:18 Literally “river”
- Jeremiah 2:19 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 2:22 Literally “make numerous for yourself alkaline salt”
- Jeremiah 2:22 Literally “to the face of”
- Jeremiah 2:22 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 2:24 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 2:24 Or “restrain”
- Jeremiah 2:25 Or “walk”
- Jeremiah 2:27 Literally “neck”
- Jeremiah 2:29 Literally “broken with me”
- Jeremiah 2:29 Literally “a declaration of”
- Jeremiah 2:30 Literally “the vanity”
- Jeremiah 2:30 Or “destroying”
- Jeremiah 2:31 Or “wilderness”
- Jeremiah 2:32 Or “jewelry”
- Jeremiah 2:33 Literally “To thus”
- Jeremiah 2:37 Literally “in your objects of trust”
Jeremiah 2
English Standard Version
Israel Forsakes the Lord
2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,
“I remember the devotion of (A)your youth,
your love (B)as a bride,
(C)how you followed me in the wilderness,
(D)in a land not sown.
3 (E)Israel was holy to the Lord,
(F)the firstfruits of his harvest.
(G)All who ate of it incurred guilt;
disaster came upon them,
declares the Lord.”
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:
(H)“What wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
(I)and went after (J)worthlessness, and became worthless?
6 They did not say, (K)‘Where is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us (L)in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that none passes through,
where no man dwells?’
7 (M)And I brought you into a plentiful land
to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, (N)you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
(O)Those who handle the law did not know me;
(P)the shepherds[a] transgressed against me;
(Q)the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after (R)things that do not profit.
9 “Therefore (S)I still contend with you,
declares the Lord,
and (T)with your children's children I will contend.
10 For cross to the coasts of (U)Cyprus and see,
or send to (V)Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has been such a thing.
11 (W)Has a nation changed its gods,
(X)even though they are no gods?
But my people (Y)have changed their glory
for (Z)that which does not profit.
12 Be appalled, (AA)O heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
(AB)they have forsaken (AC)me,
the fountain of (AD)living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
14 (AE)“Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
Why then has he become a prey?
15 (AF)The lions have roared against him;
they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are in ruins, (AG)without inhabitant.
16 Moreover, the men of (AH)Memphis and (AI)Tahpanhes
(AJ)have shaved[b] the crown of your head.
17 (AK)Have you not brought this upon yourself
by forsaking the Lord your God,
when (AL)he led you in the way?
18 (AM)And now what do you gain by going to Egypt
to drink the waters of (AN)the Nile?
(AO)Or what do you gain by going to Assyria
to drink the waters of (AP)the Euphrates?[c]
19 (AQ)Your evil will chastise you,
and (AR)your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and (AS)bitter
for (AT)you to forsake the Lord your God;
the fear of me is not in you,
declares the Lord God of hosts.
20 “For long ago I (AU)broke your yoke
and burst your bonds;
but you said, (AV)‘I will not serve.’
Yes, (AW)on every high hill
and under every green tree
you bowed down (AX)like a whore.
21 (AY)Yet I planted you a choice vine,
wholly of pure seed.
(AZ)How then have you turned degenerate
and become a wild vine?
22 Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
(BA)the stain of your guilt is still before me,
declares the Lord God.
23 (BB)How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way (BC)in the valley;
know what you have done—
a restless young camel running here and there,
24 (BD)a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.
25 Keep (BE)your feet from going unshod
and (BF)your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
(BG)for I have loved foreigners,
and after them I will go.’
26 “As a thief is shamed when caught,
so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
(BH)they, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets,
27 who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to me,
and not their face.
But (BI)in the time of their trouble they say,
‘Arise and save us!’
28 But (BJ)where are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, (BK)if they can save you,
in your time of trouble;
for (BL)as many as your cities
are your gods, O Judah.
29 “Why do you contend with me?
You have all transgressed against me,
declares the Lord.
30 In vain have I (BM)struck your children;
they took no correction;
(BN)your own sword devoured your prophets
like a ravening lion.
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
we will come no more to you’?
32 (BO)Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet (BP)my people have forgotten me
days without number.
33 “How well you direct your course
to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
(BQ)the lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them (BR)breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
35 you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.’
(BS)Behold, I will bring you to judgment
for (BT)saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 (BU)How much you go about,
changing your way!
You shall be (BV)put to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 From it too you will come away
with (BW)your hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper by them.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 2:8 Or rulers
- Jeremiah 2:16 Hebrew grazed
- Jeremiah 2:18 Hebrew the River
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