Jeremiah 2:20-25 ▼

20 “For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience] And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you]; You said, ‘I will not serve and obey You!’ For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute.

21 “Yet I had planted you [O house of Israel as] a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned against Me Into degenerate shoots of a foreign and wild vine [alien to Me]?

22 “For though you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your guilt is [still] before Me [and you are soiled and dirty],” says the Lord GOD.

23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after [man-made gods like] the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley; Know [without any doubt] what you have done! You are a swift and restless young [female] camel [in the heat of her passion] running here and there,

24 Or [you have the untamed and reckless nature of] a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion [for the scent of a mate]. In her mating season who can restrain her? No males seeking her need to weary themselves; In her month they will find her [looking for them].

25 “[Cease your mad running after idols to] Keep your feet from becoming bare And your throat from becoming dry; But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I have loved strangers and foreign gods, And I will walk after them.’