23 How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?(A)
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.(B)
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,
24 a wild donkey(C) at home[a] in the wilderness.
She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can control her passion?
All who look for her will not become tired;
they will find her in her mating season.[b]
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless;(D)
I love strangers,(E)
and I will continue to follow them.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 2:24 Lit donkey taught
  2. Jeremiah 2:24 Lit her month

Israel, an Unfaithful Wife

23 “You say, ‘That’s not true!
    I haven’t worshiped the images of Baal!’
But how can you say that?
    Go and look in any valley in the land!
Face the awful sins you have done.
    You are like a restless female camel
    desperately searching for a mate.
24 You are like a wild donkey,
    sniffing the wind at mating time.
Who can restrain her lust?
    Those who desire her don’t need to search,
    for she goes running to them!
25 When will you stop running?
    When will you stop panting after other gods?
But you say, ‘Save your breath.
    I’m in love with these foreign gods,
    and I can’t stop loving them now!’

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