# Jeremiah 2 (New King James Version)
God's Case Against Israel

##### Chapter 2
###### 1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,  
###### 2 "Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the Lord:
"I remember you,  
The kindness of your youth,  
The love of your betrothal,  
When you went after Me in the wilderness,  
In a land not sown.  

###### 3 Israel _was_ holiness to the Lord,  
The firstfruits of His increase.  
All that devour him will offend;  
Disaster will come upon 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 have your fathers found in Me,  
That they have gone far from Me,  
Have followed idols,  
And have become idolaters?  

###### 6 Neither did they say, 'Where _is_ the Lord,  
Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,  
Who led us through the wilderness,  
Through a land of deserts and pits,  
Through a land of drought and the shadow of death,  
Through a land that no one crossed  
And where no one dwelt?'  

###### 7 I brought you into a bountiful country,  
To eat its fruit and its goodness.  
But when you entered, you defiled My land  
And made My heritage an abomination.  

###### 8 The priests did not say, 'Where _is_ the Lord?'  
And those who handle the law did not know Me;  
The rulers also transgressed against Me;  
The prophets prophesied by Baal,  
And walked after _things that_ do not profit.

###### 9 "Therefore I will yet bring charges against you," says the Lord,  
"And against your children's children I will bring charges.  

###### 10 For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see,  
Send to Kedar and consider diligently,  
And see if there has been such _a_ _thing._  

###### 11 Has a nation changed _its_ gods,  
Which _are_ not gods?  
But My people have changed their Glory  
For _what_ does not profit.  

###### 12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this,  
And be horribly afraid;  
Be very desolate," says the Lord.  

###### 13 "For My people have committed two evils:  
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,  
_And_ hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.

###### 14 "_Is_ Israel a servant?  
_Is_ he a homeborn _slave?_  
Why is he plundered?  

###### 15 The young lions roared at him, _and_ growled;  
They made his land waste;  
His cities are burned, without inhabitant.  

###### 16 Also the people of Noph and Tahpanhes  
Have broken the crown of your head.  

###### 17 Have you not brought this on yourself,  
In that you have forsaken the Lord your God  
When He led you in the way?  

###### 18 And now why take the road to Egypt,  
To drink the waters of Sihor?  
Or why take the road to Assyria,  
To drink the waters of the River?  

###### 19 Your own wickedness will correct you,  
And your backslidings will rebuke you.  
Know therefore and see that _it is_ an evil and bitter _thing_  
That you have forsaken the Lord your God,  
And the fear of Me _is_ not in you,"  
Says the Lord God of hosts.

###### 20 "For of old I have broken your yoke _and_ burst your bonds;  
And you said, 'I will not transgress,'  
When on every high hill and under every green tree  
You lay down, playing the harlot.  

###### 21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.  
How then have you turned before Me  
Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?  

###### 22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap,  
_Yet_ your iniquity is marked before Me," says the Lord God.

###### 23 "How can you say, 'I am not polluted,  
I have not gone after the Baals'?  
See your way in the valley;  
Know what you have done:  
_You are_ a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,  

###### 24 A wild donkey used to the wilderness,  
_That_ sniffs at the wind in her desire;  
In her time of mating, who can turn her away?  
All those who seek her will not weary themselves;  
In her month they will find her.  

###### 25 Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst.  
But you said, 'There is no hope.  
No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.'

###### 26 "As the thief is ashamed when he is found out,  
So is the house of Israel ashamed;  
They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets,  

###### 27 Saying to a tree, 'You _are_ my father,'  
And to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.'  
For they have turned _their_ back to Me, and not _their_ face.  
But in the time of their trouble  
They will say, 'Arise and save us.'  

###### 28 But where _are_ your gods that you have made for yourselves?  
Let them arise,  
If they can save you in the time of your trouble;  
For _according to_ the number of your cities  
Are your gods, O Judah.

###### 29 "Why will you plead with Me?  
You all have transgressed against Me," says the Lord.  

###### 30 "In vain I have chastened your children;  
They received no correction.  
Your sword has devoured your prophets  
Like a destroying lion.

###### 31 "O generation, see the word of the Lord!  
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,  
Or a land of darkness?  
Why do My people say, 'We are lords;  
We will come no more to You'?  

###### 32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments,  
_Or_ a bride her attire?  
Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

###### 33 "Why do you beautify your way to seek love?  
Therefore you have also taught  
The wicked women your ways.  

###### 34 Also on your skirts is found  
The blood of the lives of the poor innocents.  
I have not found it by secret search,  
But plainly on all these things.  

###### 35 Yet you say, 'Because I am innocent,  
Surely His anger shall turn from me.'  
Behold, I will plead My case against you,  
Because you say, 'I have not sinned.'  

###### 36 Why do you gad about so much to change your way?  
Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria.  

###### 37 Indeed you will go forth from him  
With your hands on your head;  
For the Lord has rejected your trusted allies,  
And you will not prosper by them.