Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob
and all families of the house of Israel.
This is what the Lord says:

What fault did your fathers find in Me(A)
that they went so far from Me,
followed worthless idols,(B)
and became worthless themselves?(C)
They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord(D)
who brought us from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,(E)
through a land of deserts and ravines,
through a land of drought and darkness,[a]
a land no one traveled through
and where no one lived?”
I brought you to a fertile land(F)
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled My land;(G)
you made My inheritance(H) detestable.
The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?”
The experts in the law no longer knew Me,(I)
and the rulers(J) rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by[b] Baal(K)
and followed useless idols.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 2:6 Or shadow of death
  2. Jeremiah 2:8 = in the name of

The Unfaithfulness of Israel’s Ancestors

Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the clans[a] of the house of Israel. Thus says Yahweh:

“What injustice did your ancestors[b] find in me
    that they were far from me,
and they went after the vanity,
    and they became vain?
And they did not say,
    ‘Where is Yahweh,
the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
    the one who led us in the desert,[c]
in a land of desert plains and gorges,[d]
    in a land of dryness and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,[e]
    and no human lives there?’
And I brought you to the land of the orchard,
    to eat its fruit, and its good things.[f]
But you entered and defiled my land,
    and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.[g]
The priests did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’
    and those who handle the law did not know me,
and the shepherds have rebelled against me,[h]
    and the prophets prophesied by Baal,
and they went after things which do not profit.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 2:4 Or “families”
  2. Jeremiah 2:5 Or “fathers”
  3. Jeremiah 2:6 Or “wilderness”
  4. Jeremiah 2:6 Hebrew “gorge”
  5. Jeremiah 2:6 Literally “no man passes through in it”
  6. Jeremiah 2:7 Hebrew “good thing”
  7. Jeremiah 2:7 Or “abomination”
  8. Jeremiah 2:8 Literally “broken with me”