Jeremiah 2:14-3:10

New King James Version

¹⁴“Is Israel ^(A)a servant?
Is he a homeborn slave?
Why is he plundered?
¹⁵^(B)The young lions roared at him, and growled;
They made his land waste;
His cities are burned, without inhabitant.
¹⁶Also the people of ^[a]Noph and ^(C)Tahpanhes
Have ^[b]broken the crown of your head.
¹⁷^(D)Have you not brought this on yourself,
In that you have forsaken the Lord your God
When ^(E)He led you in the way?
¹⁸And now why take ^(F)the road to Egypt,
To drink the waters of ^(G)Sihor?
Or why take the road to ^(H)Assyria,
To drink the waters of ^[c]the River?
¹⁹Your own wickedness will ^(I)correct you,
And your backslidings will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing
That you have forsaken the Lord your God,
And the ^[d]fear of Me is not in you,”
Says the Lord God of hosts.

²⁰“For of old I have ^(J)broken your yoke and burst your bonds;
And ^(K)you said, ‘I will not ^[e]transgress,’
When ^(L)on every high hill and under every green tree
You lay down, ^(M)playing the harlot.
²¹Yet I had ^(N)planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.
How then have you turned before Me
Into ^(O)the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
²²For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap,
Yet your iniquity is ^(P)marked^[f] before Me,” says the Lord God.

²³“How^(Q) can you say, ‘I am not ^[g]polluted,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
See your way in the valley;
Know what you have done:
You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,
²⁴A wild donkey used to the wilderness,
That sniffs at the wind in her desire;
In her time of mating, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves;
In her month they will find her.
²⁵Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ^(R)‘There is no hope.
No! For I have loved ^(S)aliens, and after them I will go.’

²⁶“As the thief is ashamed when he is found out,
So is the house of Israel ashamed;
They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their ^(T)prophets,
²⁷Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
And to a ^(U)stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’
For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face.
But in the time of their ^(V)trouble
They will say, ‘Arise and save us.’
²⁸But ^(W)where are your gods that you have made for yourselves?
Let them arise,
If they ^(X)can save you in the time of your ^[h]trouble;
For ^(Y)according to the number of your cities
Are your gods, O Judah.

²⁹“Why will you plead with Me?
You all have transgressed against Me,” says the Lord.
³⁰“In vain I have ^(Z)chastened your children;
They ^(AA)received no correction.
Your sword has ^(AB)devoured your prophets
Like a destroying lion.

³¹“O generation, see the word of the Lord!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
Or a land of darkness?
Why do My people say, ‘We ^[i]are lords;
^(AC)We will come no more to You’?
³²Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
Or a bride her attire?
Yet My people ^(AD)have forgotten Me days without number.

³³“Why do you beautify your way to seek love?
Therefore you have also taught
The wicked women your ways.
³⁴Also on your skirts is found
^(AE)The blood of the lives of the poor innocents.
I have not found it by ^[j]secret search,
But plainly on all these things.
³⁵^(AF)Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent,
Surely His anger shall turn from me.’
Behold, ^(AG)I will plead My case against you,
^(AH)Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
³⁶^(AI)Why do you gad about so much to change your way?
Also ^(AJ)you shall be ashamed of Egypt ^(AK)as you were ashamed of Assyria.
³⁷Indeed you will go forth from him
With your hands on ^(AL)your head;
For the Lord has rejected your trusted allies,
And you will ^(AM)not prosper by them.

Israel Is Shameless

3 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife,
And she goes from him
And becomes another man’s,
^(AN)May he return to her again?’
Would not that ^(AO)land be greatly polluted?
But you have ^(AP)played the harlot with many lovers;
^(AQ)Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.

²“Lift up your eyes to ^(AR)the desolate heights and see:
Where have you not ^[k]lain with men?
^(AS)By the road you have sat for them
Like an Arabian in the wilderness;
^(AT)And you have polluted the land
With your harlotries and your wickedness.
³Therefore the ^(AU)showers have been withheld,
And there has been no latter rain.
You have had a ^(AV)harlot’s forehead;
You refuse to be ashamed.
⁴Will you not from this time cry to Me,
‘My Father, You are ^(AW)the guide of ^(AX)my youth?
⁵^(AY)Will He remain angry forever?
Will He keep it to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken and done evil things,
As you were able.”

A Call to Repentance

⁶The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what ^(AZ)backsliding Israel has done? She has ^(BA)gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot. ⁷^(BB)And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me.’ But she did not return. And her treacherous ^(BC)sister Judah saw it. ⁸Then I saw that ^(BD)for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had ^(BE)put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; ^(BF)yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also. ⁹So it came to pass, through her casual harlotry, that she ^(BG)defiled the land and committed adultery with ^(BH)stones and trees. ¹⁰And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to Me ^(BI)with her whole heart, but in pretense,” says the Lord.