Jeremiah 2:2-7 ▼

2 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “I remember [earnestly] the lovingkindness and devotion of your youth, Your time of betrothal [like that of a bride during the early years in Egypt and again at Sinai], When you followed Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown.

3 “Israel was holy [something set apart from ordinary purposes, consecrated] to the LORD, The first fruits of His harvest [in which no outsider was allowed to share]. All who ate of it [injuring Israel] became guilty; Evil came on them,” says the LORD.’”

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

5 Thus says the LORD, “What injustice or unrighteousness did your fathers find in Me, That they have wandered far from Me And [habitually] walked after emptiness and futility and became empty?

6 “They did not say, ‘Where is the LORD Who brought us up from the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and of pits, Through a land of drought and of the deep darkness [of the shadow of death], Through a land that no man passed through And where no man lived?’

7 “I brought you into a plentiful land To eat its fruit and [enjoy] its good things. But you came and defiled My land And you made My inheritance repulsive.