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14 Is Israel a slave?
    Is he born into slavery?
    Why has he become a captive?
15 The young lions have roared at him and yelled.
    They have made his land waste.
    His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
16     The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
17 “Haven’t you brought this on yourself,
    in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God,[a] when he led you by the way?
18 Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor?
    Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?[b]
19 “Your own wickedness will correct you,
    and your backsliding will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,
    that you have forsaken Yahweh your God,
    and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.

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Footnotes

  1. 2:17 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).
  2. 2:18 i.e., the Euphrates River

Consequences of Israel’s Unfaithfulness

14 “Is Israel a slave, or was he born a servant?[a]
    Why then has he become plunder?
15 Young lions roar at him, they cry out loudly.
    They have made his land into a wasteland,
and his cities are destroyed
    so they are without inhabitants.
16 Also, people from Memphis and Tahpanhes[b]
    have broken[c] your skull.
17 You have done this to yourselves, have you not,
    by forsaking the Lord your God, when he
        is the one who led you on the way?
18 Now, what are you doing on the road to Egypt,
    to drink the waters of the Nile?
And what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
    to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your wickedness will be punished,
    and you will be corrected due to your acts of apostasy.
Know and see that it’s evil and bitter for you
    to forsake the Lord your God,
but the fear of me is not in you,”
    declares the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 2:14 Lit. was he a home born servant (cf. Exod 21:4)
  2. Jeremiah 2:16 I.e. Egyptian cities
  3. Jeremiah 2:16 Or shaved