2
1 The
LORD’s word came
to me, saying,
2 “Go
and proclaim in
the ears of
Jerusalem, saying, ‘The
LORD says,
“I remember for
you the kindness
of your youth,
your love as
a bride,
how you went
after me in
the wilderness,
in a land that
was not sown.
3 Israel
was holiness to
the LORD,
the first fruits
of his increase.
All who devour
him will be held
guilty.
Evil will come
on them,” ’ says
the LORD.”
4 Hear
the LORD’s word,
O house of
Jacob, and all
the families of
the house of
Israel!
5 The
LORD says,
“What unrighteousness
have your fathers
found in me,
that they have
gone far from
me,
and have walked
after worthless
vanity,
and have become
worthless?
6 They didn’t
say, ‘Where is the
LORD who brought
us up out
of the land
of Egypt,
who led us
through the
wilderness,
through a land
of deserts and
of pits,
through a land
of drought and
of the shadow
of death,
through a land
that no one
passed through,
and where no
man lived?’
7 I
brought you into
a plentiful land
to eat its fruit
and its goodness;
but when you entered, you
defiled my land,
and made my
heritage an
abomination.
8 The
priests didn’t say, ‘Where
is the LORD?’
and those who
handle the
law didn’t know me.
The rulers also
transgressed against
me,
and the prophets
prophesied by Baal
and followed
things that do
not profit.
9 “Therefore
I will yet
contend with you,”
says the LORD,
“and I will
contend with your
children’s children.
10 For
pass over to
the islands of
Kittim, and see.
Send to Kedar,
and consider
diligently,
and see if
there has been
such a thing.
11 Has
a nation changed
its gods,
which really are
no gods?
But my people
have changed their
glory for that
which doesn’t profit.
12 “Be
astonished, you
heavens, at this
and be horribly
afraid.
Be very desolate,”
says the LORD.
13 “For
my people have
committed two
evils:
they have
forsaken me, the
spring of living
waters,
and cut
out cisterns for
themselves: broken cisterns
that can’t hold
water.
14 Is
Israel a slave?
Is he born
into slavery?
Why has he
become a captive?
15 The
young lions have
roared at him
and raised their
voices.
They have made
his land waste.
His cities are
burned up, without
inhabitant.
16 The
children also of
Memphis and
Tahpanhes have
broken the crown
of your head.
17 “Haven’t
you brought this
on yourself,
in that you
have forsaken the
LORD your God,
when he led
you by the
way?
18 Now
what do you gain
by going to Egypt,
to drink the
waters of the
Shihor?
Or why do
you go on the
way to Assyria, to
drink the waters
of the River?
19 “Your own
wickedness will
correct you,
and your
backsliding will
rebuke you.
Know therefore
and see that
it is an
evil and bitter
thing,
that you have
forsaken the LORD
your God,
and that my
fear is not
in you,” says
the Lord, GOD
of Armies.
20 “For
long ago I
broke off your
yoke,
and burst your
bonds.
You said, ‘I will
not serve;’
for on every
high hill and
under every green
tree you bowed
yourself,
playing the
prostitute.
21 Yet
I had planted
you a noble vine,
a pure and faithful
seed.
How then have you
turned into
the degenerate branches of
a foreign vine
to me?
22 For
though you
wash yourself with
lye,
and use much
soap,
yet your iniquity
is marked before
me,” says the
Lord GOD.
23 “How
can you say, ‘I
am not defiled.
I have not
gone after the
Baals’?
See your way
in the valley.
Know what you
have done.
You are a
swift dromedary
traversing her
ways,
24 a
wild donkey used
to the wilderness,
that sniffs the
wind in
her craving.
When she is
in heat, who
can turn her
away?
All those who
seek her will
not weary
themselves. In her
month, they will
find her.
25 “Keep
your feet
from being bare,
and your throat
from thirst.
But you said, ‘It
is in vain.
No, for I
have loved strangers,
and I will
go after them.’
26 As
the thief is
ashamed when he
is found,
so the house
of Israel is
ashamed—
they, their kings,
their princes,
their priests, and
their prophets,
27 who tell
wood, ‘You are
my father,’
and a stone, ‘You
have given birth
to me,’
for they have
turned their back
to me,
and not their
face,
but in the
time of their
trouble they
will say, ‘Arise,
and save us!’
28 “But where
are your gods that
you have made
for yourselves?
Let them arise,
if they can
save you in
the time of
your trouble,
for you have
as many gods as
you have towns,
O Judah.
29 “Why
will you contend
with me?
You all have
transgressed against
me,” says the
LORD.
30 “I
have struck your
children in vain.
They received no
correction.
Your own sword
has devoured your
prophets,
like a
destroying lion.
31 Generation,
consider the LORD’s
word.
Have I been
a wilderness to
Israel?
Or a land of
thick darkness?
Why do my
people say, ‘We
have broken loose.
We will come
to you no
more’?
32 “Can a
virgin forget her
ornaments,
or a bride
her attire?
Yet my people
have forgotten me
for days without
number.
33 How
well you prepare
your way to
seek love!
Therefore you
have even taught
the wicked women
your ways.
34 Also
the blood of
the souls of
the innocent poor
is found in
your skirts.
You didn’t find
them breaking in,
but it is
because of all
these things.
35 “Yet
you said, ‘I am
innocent.
Surely his anger
has turned away
from me.’
“Behold, I will
judge you,
because you say,
‘I have not
sinned.’
36 Why
do you go about
so much to
change your ways?
You will
be ashamed of
Egypt also,
as you
were ashamed of Assyria.
37 You
will also leave
that place with
your hands on
your head;
for the LORD
has rejected those
in whom you
trust,
and you won’t
prosper with them.