Jeremiah 1-3

New International Version - UK

⁵ ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew^[a] you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’

‘Their kings will come and set up their thrones
    in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem;
they will come against all her surrounding walls
    and against all the towns of Judah.
¹⁶ I will pronounce my judgments on my people
    because of their wickedness in forsaking me,
in burning incense to other gods
    and in worshipping what their hands have made.

‘“I remember the devotion of your youth,
    how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
    through a land not sown.
³ Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
    and disaster overtook them,”’
declares the Lord.

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
    all you clans of Israel.

‘What fault did your ancestors find in me,
    that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
    and became worthless themselves.
⁶ They did not ask, “Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
    through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
    a land where no one travels and no one lives?”
⁷ I brought you into a fertile land
    to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
    and made my inheritance detestable.
⁸ The priests did not ask,
    “Where is the Lord?”
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
    the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
    following worthless idols.

⁹ ‘Therefore I bring charges against you again,’
declares the Lord.
    ‘And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
¹⁰ Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
    send to Kedar^[c] and observe closely;
    see if there has ever been anything like this:
¹¹ has a nation ever changed its gods?
    (Yet they are not gods at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious God
    for worthless idols.
¹² Be appalled at this, you heavens,
    and shudder with great horror,’
declares the Lord.
¹³ ‘My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
    the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
¹⁴ Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth?
    Why then has he become plunder?
¹⁵ Lions have roared;
    they have growled at him.
They have laid waste his land;
    his towns are burned and deserted.
¹⁶ Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
    have cracked your skull.
¹⁷ Have you not brought this on yourselves
    by forsaking the Lord your God
    when he led you in the way?
¹⁸ Now why go to Egypt
    to drink water from the Nile?^[d]
And why go to Assyria
    to drink water from the Euphrates?
¹⁹ Your wickedness will punish you;
    your backsliding will rebuke you.
Consider then and realise
    how evil and bitter it is for you
when you forsake the Lord your God
    and have no awe of me,’
declares the Lord,
the Lord Almighty.

²⁰ ‘Long ago you broke off your yoke
    and tore off your bonds;
    you said, “I will not serve you!”
Indeed, on every high hill
    and under every spreading tree
    you lay down as a prostitute.
²¹ I had planted you like a choice vine
    of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
    into a corrupt, wild vine?
²² Although you wash yourself with soap
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,’
declares the Sovereign Lord.
²³ ‘How can you say, “I am not defiled;
    I have not run after the Baals”?
See how you behaved in the valley;
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running here and there,
²⁴ a wild donkey accustomed to the desert,
    sniffing the wind in her craving –
    in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
    at mating time they will find her.
²⁵ Do not run until your feet are bare
    and your throat is dry.
But you said, “It’s no use!
    I love foreign gods,
    and I must go after them.”

²⁶ ‘As a thief is disgraced when he is caught,
    so the people of Israel are disgraced –
they, their kings and their officials,
    their priests and their prophets.
²⁷ They say to wood, “You are my father,”
    and to stone, “You gave me birth.”
They have turned their backs to me
    and not their faces;
yet when they are in trouble, they say,
    “Come and save us!”
²⁸ Where then are the gods you made for yourselves?
    Let them come if they can save you
    when you are in trouble!
For you, Judah, have as many gods
    as you have towns.

²⁹ ‘Why do you bring charges against me?
    You have all rebelled against me,’
declares the Lord.
³⁰ ‘In vain I punished your people;
    they did not respond to correction.
Your sword has devoured your prophets
    like a ravenous lion.

‘Have I been a desert to Israel
    or a land of great darkness?
Why do my people say, “We are free to roam;
    we will come to you no more”?
³² Does a young woman forget her jewellery,
    a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten me,
    days without number.
³³ How skilled you are at pursuing love!
    Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
³⁴ On your clothes is found
    the lifeblood of the innocent poor,
    though you did not catch them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all this
³⁵     you say, “I am innocent;
    he is not angry with me.”
But I will pass judgment on you
    because you say, “I have not sinned.”
³⁶ Why do you go about so much,
    changing your ways?
You will be disappointed by Egypt
    as you were by Assyria.
³⁷ You will also leave that place
    with your hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those you trust;
    you will not be helped by them.

3 ‘If a man divorces his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers –
    would you now return to me?’
declares the Lord.
² ‘Look up to the barren heights and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
    with your prostitution and wickedness.
³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,
    and no spring rains have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame.
⁴ Have you not just called to me:
    “My Father, my friend from my youth,
⁵ will you always be angry?
    Will your wrath continue for ever?”
This is how you talk,
    but you do all the evil you can.’

‘“Return, faithless Israel,” declares the Lord,
    “I will frown on you no longer,
for I am faithful,” declares the Lord,
    “I will not be angry for ever.
¹³ Only acknowledge your guilt –
    you have rebelled against the Lord your God,
you have scattered your favours to foreign gods
    under every spreading tree,
    and have not obeyed me,”’
declares the Lord.

‘“How gladly would I treat you like my children
    and give you a pleasant land,
    the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.”
I thought you would call me “Father”
    and not turn away from following me.
²⁰ But like a woman unfaithful to her husband,
    so you, Israel, have been unfaithful to me,’
declares the Lord.

²¹ A cry is heard on the barren heights,
    the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel,
because they have perverted their ways
    and have forgotten the Lord their God.

²² ‘Return, faithless people;
    I will cure you of backsliding.’

‘Yes, we will come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
²³ Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills
    and mountains is a deception;
surely in the Lord our God
    is the salvation of Israel.
²⁴ From our youth shameful gods have consumed
    the fruits of our ancestors’ labour –
their flocks and herds,
    their sons and daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame,
    and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God,
    both we and our ancestors;
from our youth till this day
    we have not obeyed the Lord our God.’