Jeremiah 2:1-13

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown.^(A)
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
    disaster came upon them,
            says the Lord.^(B)

What wrong did your ancestors find in me
    that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?^(C)
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 no one passes through,
    where no one lives?”^(D)
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
    to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.^(E)
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
    Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers^[a] transgressed against me;
    the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and went after things that do not profit.^(F)

⁹ Therefore once more I accuse you,
            says the Lord,
    and I accuse your children’s children.^(G)
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
    send to Kedar and examine with care;
    see if there has ever 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 something that does not profit.^(H)
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked; be utterly desolate,
            says the Lord,
¹³ for my people have committed two evils:
    they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
    and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
    that can hold no water.^(I)