Jeremiah 2:20-25 ▼

20 For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your chains. You insisted, “I will not serve! ” On every high hill and under every green tree you lay down like a prostitute.

21 I planted you, a choice vine from the very best seed. How then could you turn into a degenerate, foreign vine?

22 Even if you wash with lye and use a great amount of bleach, the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me. This is the Lord GOD’s declaration.

23 How can you protest, “I am not defiled; I have not followed the Baals”? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young camel twisting and turning on her way,

24 a wild donkey at home in the wilderness. She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can control her passion? All who look for her will not become weary; they will find her in her mating season.

25 Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst. But you say, “It’s hopeless; I love strangers, and I will continue to follow them.”