Jeremiah 2:2-7 ▼

2 Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem: 'This is what the LORD says: |I have fond memories of you, how devoted you were to me in your early years. I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted.

3 Israel was set apart to the LORD; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him. All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,| says the LORD.'|

4 Now listen to what the Lord has to say, you descendants of Jacob, all you family groups from the nation of Israel.

5 This is what the Lord says: |What fault could your ancestors have possibly found in me that they strayed so far from me? They paid allegiance to worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.

6 They did not ask: 'Where is the LORD who delivered us out of Egypt, who brought us through the wilderness, through a land of desert sands and rift valleys, through a land of drought and deep darkness, through a land in which no one travels, and where no one lives?'

7 I brought you into a fertile land so you could enjoy its fruits and its rich bounty. But when you entered my land, you defiled it; you made the land I call my own loathsome to me.