Jeremiah 2:21-28

New International Version

²¹ I had planted^(A) you like a choice vine^(B)
    of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
    into a corrupt,^(C) wild vine?
²² Although you wash^(D) yourself with soap^(E)
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.^(F)
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;^(G)
    I have not run after the Baals’?^(H)
See how you behaved in the valley;^(I)
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running^(J) here and there,
²⁴ a wild donkey^(K) accustomed to the desert,^(L)
    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!^(M)
    I love foreign gods,^(N)
    and I must go after them.’^(O)

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced^(P) when he is caught,
    so the people of Israel are disgraced—
they, their kings and their officials,
    their priests^(Q) and their prophets.^(R)
27 They say to wood,^(S) ‘You are my father,’
    and to stone,^(T) ‘You gave me birth.’
They have turned their backs^(U) to me
    and not their faces;^(V)
yet when they are in trouble,^(W) they say,
    ‘Come and save^(X) us!’
²⁸ Where then are the gods^(Y) you made for yourselves?
    Let them come if they can save you
    when you are in trouble!^(Z)
For you, Judah, have as many gods
    as you have towns.^(AA)