Jeremiah 2:23-32

English Standard Version

²³^(A)How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
    I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way ^(B)in the valley;
    know what you have done—
a restless young camel running here and there,
²⁴    ^(C)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.
²⁵Keep ^(D)your feet from going unshod
    and ^(E)your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
    ^(F)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:
^(G)they, their kings, their officials,
    their priests, and their prophets,
²⁷who 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 ^(H)in the time of their trouble they say,
    ‘Arise and save us!’
²⁸But ^(I)where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, ^(J)if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble;
for ^(K)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.
³⁰In vain have I ^(L)struck your children;
    they took no correction;
^(M)your own sword devoured your prophets
    like a ravening lion.
³¹And 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^(N)Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
    or a bride her attire?
Yet ^(O)my people have forgotten me
    days without number.