Jeremiah 2:20-28

New International Version

²⁰ “Long ago you broke off your yoke^(A)
    and tore off your bonds;^(B)
    you said, ‘I will not serve you!’^(C)
Indeed, on every high hill^(D)
    and under every spreading tree^(E)
    you lay down as a prostitute.^(F)
21 I had planted^(G) you like a choice vine^(H)
    of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
    into a corrupt,^(I) wild vine?
²² Although you wash^(J) yourself with soap^(K)
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.^(L)
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;^(M)
    I have not run after the Baals’?^(N)
See how you behaved in the valley;^(O)
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running^(P) here and there,
²⁴ a wild donkey^(Q) accustomed to the desert,^(R)
    sniffing the wind in her craving—
    in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
    at mating time they will find her.
²⁵ Do not run until your feet are bare
    and your throat is dry.
But you said, ‘It’s no use!^(S)
    I love foreign gods,^(T)
    and I must go after them.’^(U)

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced^(V) when he is caught,
    so the people of Israel are disgraced—
they, their kings and their officials,
    their priests^(W) and their prophets.^(X)
27 They say to wood,^(Y) ‘You are my father,’
    and to stone,^(Z) ‘You gave me birth.’
They have turned their backs^(AA) to me
    and not their faces;^(AB)
yet when they are in trouble,^(AC) they say,
    ‘Come and save^(AD) us!’
²⁸ Where then are the gods^(AE) you made for yourselves?
    Let them come if they can save you
    when you are in trouble!^(AF)
For you, Judah, have as many gods
    as you have towns.^(AG)