Jeremiah 2:4-8

New International Reader's Version

⁴ People of Jacob, hear the Lord’s message.
    Listen, all you tribes of Israel.

“What did your people of long ago find wrong with me?
    Why did they wander so far away from me?
They worshiped worthless statues of gods.
    Then they themselves became worthless.
⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?
    He brought us up out of Egypt.
He led us through a dry and empty land.
    He guided us through deserts and deep valleys.
It was a land of total darkness where there wasn’t any rain.
    No one lived or traveled there.’
⁷ But I brought you into a land that has rich soil.
    I gave you its fruit and its finest food.
In spite of that, you made my land impure.
    You turned it into something I hate.
⁸ The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who taught my law did not know me.
    The leaders refused to obey me.
The prophets prophesied in the name of Baal.
    They worshiped worthless statues of gods.