Jeremiah 2:23-37 ▼

23 How wilt thou say, I am not polluted, and have not gone after Baal? behold thy ways in the burial-ground, and know what thou hast done: her voice has howled in the evening:

24 she has extended her ways over the waters of the desert; she was hurried along by the lusts of her soul; she is given up to them , who will turn her back? none that seek her shall be weary; at the time of her humiliation they shall find her.

25 Withdraw thy foot from a rough way, and they throat from thirst: but she said I will strengthen myself: for she loved strangers, and went after them.

26 As is the shame of a thief when he is caught, so shall the children of Israel be ashamed; they, and their kings, and their princes, and their priests, and their prophets.

27 They said to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou has begotten me: and they have turned their backs to me, and not their faces: yet in the time of their afflictions they will say, Arise, and save us.

28 And where are thy gods, which thou madest for thyself? will they arise and save in the time of thine affliction? for according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Juda; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem they sacrificed to Baal.

29 Wherefore do ye speak unto me? ye all have been ungodly, and ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord.

30 In vain have I smitten your children; ye have not received correction: a sword has devoured your prophets as a destroying lion; yet ye feared not.

31 Hear ye the word of the Lord: thus saith the Lord, Have I been a wilderness or a dry land to Israel? wherefore has my people said, We will not be ruled over, and will not come to thee any more?

32 Will a bride forget her ornaments, or a virgin her girdle? but my people has forgotten me days without number.

33 What fair device wilt thou yet employ in thy ways, so as to seek love? it shall not be so; moreover thou has done wickedly in corrupting thy ways;

34 and in thine hands has been found the blood of innocent souls; I have not found them in holes, but on every oak.

35 Yet thou saidst, I am innocent: only let his wrath be turned away from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, whereas thou sayest, I have not sinned.

36 For thou has been so exceedingly contemptuous as to repeat thy ways; but thou shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assur.

37 For thou shalt go forth thence also with thine hands upon thine head; for the Lord has rejected thine hope, and thou shalt not prosper in it.