153 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
153 lines
5.4 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 2
|
||
1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
|
||
2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,
|
||
“I remember the devotion of your youth,
|
||
your love as a bride,
|
||
how you followed me in the wilderness,
|
||
in a land not sown.
|
||
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
|
||
the firstfruits of his harvest.
|
||
All who ate of it incurred guilt;
|
||
disaster came upon them,
|
||
declares the Lord.”
|
||
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.
|
||
5 Thus says the Lord:
|
||
“What wrong did your fathers find in me
|
||
that they went far from me,
|
||
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
|
||
6 They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
|
||
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
|
||
who led us in the wilderness,
|
||
in a land of deserts and pits,
|
||
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
|
||
in a land that none passes through,
|
||
where no man dwells?’
|
||
7 And I brought you into a plentiful land
|
||
to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
|
||
But when you came in, you defiled my land
|
||
and made my heritage an abomination.
|
||
8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
|
||
Those who handle the law did not know me;
|
||
the shepherds transgressed against me;
|
||
the prophets prophesied by Baal
|
||
and went after things that do not profit.
|
||
9 “Therefore I still contend with you,
|
||
declares the Lord,
|
||
and with your children's children I will contend.
|
||
10 For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,
|
||
or send to Kedar and examine with care;
|
||
see if there has been such a thing.
|
||
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
|
||
even though they are no gods?
|
||
But my people have changed their glory
|
||
for that which does not profit.
|
||
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
|
||
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
|
||
declares the Lord,
|
||
13 for my people have committed two evils:
|
||
they have forsaken me,
|
||
the fountain of living waters,
|
||
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
|
||
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
|
||
14 “Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
|
||
Why then has he become a prey?
|
||
15 The lions have roared against him;
|
||
they have roared loudly.
|
||
They have made his land a waste;
|
||
his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
|
||
16 Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
|
||
have shaved the crown of your head.
|
||
17 Have you not brought this upon yourself
|
||
by forsaking the Lord your God,
|
||
when he led you in the way?
|
||
18 And now what do you gain by going to Egypt
|
||
to drink the waters of the Nile?
|
||
Or what do you gain by going to Assyria
|
||
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
|
||
19 Your evil will chastise you,
|
||
and your apostasy will reprove you.
|
||
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
|
||
for you to forsake the Lord your God;
|
||
the fear of me is not in you,
|
||
declares the Lord God of hosts.
|
||
20 “For long ago I broke your yoke
|
||
and burst your bonds;
|
||
but you said, ‘I will not serve.’
|
||
Yes, on every high hill
|
||
and under every green tree
|
||
you bowed down like a whore.
|
||
21 Yet I planted you a choice vine,
|
||
wholly of pure seed.
|
||
How then have you turned degenerate
|
||
and become a wild vine?
|
||
22 Though you wash yourself with lye
|
||
and use much soap,
|
||
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
|
||
declares the Lord God.
|
||
23 How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
|
||
I have not gone after the Baals’?
|
||
Look at your way in the valley;
|
||
know what you have done—
|
||
a restless young camel running here and there,
|
||
24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
|
||
in her heat sniffing the wind!
|
||
Who can restrain her lust?
|
||
None who seek her need weary themselves;
|
||
in her month they will find her.
|
||
25 Keep your feet from going unshod
|
||
and your throat from thirst.
|
||
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
|
||
for I have loved foreigners,
|
||
and after them I will go.’
|
||
26 “As a thief is shamed when caught,
|
||
so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
|
||
they, their kings, their officials,
|
||
their priests, and their prophets,
|
||
27 who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
|
||
and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
|
||
For they have turned their back to me,
|
||
and not their face.
|
||
But in the time of their trouble they say,
|
||
‘Arise and save us!’
|
||
28 But where are your gods
|
||
that you made for yourself?
|
||
Let them arise, if they can save you,
|
||
in your time of trouble;
|
||
for as many as your cities
|
||
are your gods, O Judah.
|
||
29 “Why do you contend with me?
|
||
You have all transgressed against me,
|
||
declares the Lord.
|
||
30 In vain have I struck your children;
|
||
they took no correction;
|
||
your own sword devoured your prophets
|
||
like a ravening lion.
|
||
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.
|
||
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
|
||
or a land of thick darkness?
|
||
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
|
||
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 “How well you direct your course
|
||
to seek love!
|
||
So that even to wicked women
|
||
you have taught your ways.
|
||
34 Also on your skirts is found
|
||
the lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
|
||
you did not find them breaking in.
|
||
Yet in spite of all these things
|
||
35 you say, ‘I am innocent;
|
||
surely his anger has turned from me.’
|
||
Behold, I will bring you to judgment
|
||
for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
|
||
36 How much you go about,
|
||
changing your way!
|
||
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
|
||
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
|
||
37 From it too you will come away
|
||
with your hands on your head,
|
||
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
|
||
and you will not prosper by them. |