Jeremiah 2:1-13 ▼

1 The word of the LORD came to me:

2 “Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride — how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it found themselves guilty; disaster came on them.” This is the LORD’s declaration.

4 Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel.

5 This is what the LORD says: What fault did your ancestors find in me that they went so far from me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?

6 They stopped asking, “Where is the LORD who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived? ”

7 I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled my land; you made my inheritance detestable.

8 The priests quit asking, “Where is the LORD? ” The experts in the law no longer knew me, and the rulers rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.

9 Therefore, I will bring a case against you again. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will bring a case against your children’s children.

10 Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and take a look. Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:

11 Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (But they were not gods! ) Yet my people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.

12 Be appalled at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly desolated! This is the LORD’s declaration.

13 For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves— cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.