Jeremiah 2:23-25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
23 How can you say, “I am not defiled;
I have not gone after the Baals”?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done:
a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,(A)
24 a wild ass at home in 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.(B)
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, “It is no use,
for I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.”(C)
Jeremiah 2:23-25
International Standard Version
Israel’s Passion for Sin
23 “How can you say, ‘I’m not defiled.
I haven’t gone after the Baals.’?[a]
Look at what you’ve done[b] in the valley.
Know what you have done.
You are a swift young camel galloping aimlessly;
24 a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
sniffing the wind in her passion.
When she’s in heat,
who can turn her away?
None of the males who pursue her need to tire themselves out,
for in her month[c] they’ll find her.”
25 “Don’t run until your feet are bare
and your throat is dry.[d]
But you say, ‘It’s hopeless!
Because I love foreign gods,[e] I’ll go after them!’”
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 2:23 I.e. images of the Canaanite storm god
- Jeremiah 2:23 Lit. at your way
- Jeremiah 2:24 I.e. at mating time
- Jeremiah 2:25 Lit. Hold back your feet from being bare and your throat from being dry
- Jeremiah 2:25 Or foreigners
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