aa[See ver. 8 above]
ct[See ver. 11 above]
db[See ver. 15 above]
dn[See ver. 20 above]

Jeremiah 2

Israel Forsakes the Lord

1The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,

“I remember the devotion of ayour youth,
your love bas a bride,
chow you followed me in the wilderness,
din a land not sown.
3 eIsrael was holy to the Lord,
fthe firstfruits of his harvest.
gAll who ate of it incurred guilt;
disaster came upon them,

declares the Lord.”
4Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5Thus says the Lord:

hWhat wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
iand went after jworthlessness, and became worthless?
6They did not say, kWhere is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us lin the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that none passes through,
where no man dwells?’
7 mAnd I brought you into a plentiful land
to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, nyou defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
oThose who handle the law did not know me;
pthe shepherds
Or rulers
transgressed against me;
rthe prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after sthings that do not profit.
9 Therefore tI still contend with you,

declares the Lord,
and uwith your children’s children I will contend.
10For cross to the coasts of vCyprus and see,
or send to wKedar and examine with care;
see if there has been such a thing.
11 xHas a nation changed its gods,
yeven though they are no gods?
But my people zhave changed their glory
for aathat which does not profit.
12Be appalled, abO heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the Lord,
13for my people have committed two evils:
acthey have forsaken adme,
the fountain of aeliving waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
14 af“Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
Why then has he become a prey?
15 agThe lions have roared against him;
they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are in ruins, ahwithout inhabitant.
16Moreover, the men of aiMemphis and ajTahpanhes
akhave shaved
Hebrew grazed
the crown of your head.
17 amHave you not brought this upon yourself
by forsaking the Lord your God,
when anhe led you in the way?
18 aoAnd now what do you gain by going to Egypt
to drink the waters of apthe Nile?
aqOr what do you gain by going to Assyria
to drink the waters of arthe Euphrates?
Hebrew  the River

19 atYour evil will chastise you,
and auyour apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and avbitter
for awyou to forsake the Lord your God;
the fear of me is not in you,

declares the Lord God of hosts.
20 For long ago I axbroke your yoke
and burst your bonds;
but you said, ay‘I will not serve.’
Yes, azon every high hill
and under every green tree
you bowed down balike a whore.
21 bbYet I planted you a choice vine,
wholly of pure seed.
bcHow then have you turned degenerate
and become a wild vine?
22Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
bdthe stain of your guilt is still before me,

declares the Lord God.
23 beHow can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way bfin the valley;
know what you have done
a restless young camel running here and there,
24 bga 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 bhyour feet from going unshod
and biyour throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
bjfor 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:
bkthey, 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 blin the time of their trouble they say,
Arise and save us!’
28But bmwhere are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, bnif they can save you,
in your time of trouble;
for boas 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 bpstruck your children;
they took no correction;
bqyour 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 brCan a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet bsmy people have forgotten me
days without number.
33 How well you direct your course
to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
34Also on your skirts is found
btthe lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them bubreaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
35you say, ‘I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.’
bvBehold, I will bring you to judgment
for bwsaying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 bxHow much you go about,
changing your way!
You shall be byput to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37From it too you will come away
with bzyour hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper by them.

Jeremiah 22

1Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, 2and say, caHear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. 3Thus says the Lord: cbDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ccdo no wrong or violence cdto the resident alien, cethe fatherless, and the widow, nor cfshed innocent blood in this place. 4For if you will indeed obey this word, cgthen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. 5But if you will not obey these words, I chswear by myself, declares the Lord, that cithis house shall become a desolation. 6For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“‘You are like Gilead to me,
like the summit of cjLebanon,
yet surely I will make you a desert,
ckan uninhabited city.
Hebrew cities

7 cmI will prepare destroyers against you,
each with his weapons,
cnand they shall cut down your choicest cedars
and cast them into the fire.
8“‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, coWhy has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” 9 cpAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”

10 cqWeep not for him who is dead,
nor grieve for him,
crbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,
for he shall return no more
to see his native land.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

11For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and cswho went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, 12but ctin the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

13 cuWoe to him who builds his house by cvunrighteousness,
and his upper rooms by injustice,
cwwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing
and does not give him his wages,
14who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
with spacious upper rooms,’
who cuts out windows for it,
paneling it with cedar
and cxpainting it with vermilion.
15Do you think you are a king
because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
and cydo justice and righteousness?
czThen it was well with him.
16 daHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;
dbthen it was well.
Is not this dcto know me?
declares the Lord.
17But you have eyes and heart
only for your dishonest gain,
ddfor shedding innocent blood,
and for practicing oppression and violence.”
18Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

de“They shall not lament for him, saying,
dfAh, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
dgAh, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’
19With the burial of a donkey dhhe shall be buried,
dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”
20 “Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from diAbarim,
for all djyour lovers are destroyed.
21I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
dkThis has been your way from dlyour youth,
that you have not obeyed my voice.
22 dmThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
and dnyour lovers shall go into captivity;
dothen you will be ashamed and confounded
because of all your evil.
23O inhabitant of dpLebanon,
nested among the cedars,
how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,
dqpain as of a woman in labor!”
24 dr“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were dsthe signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off 25and dtgive you duinto the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. 26 dvI will hurl you and dwthe mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. 27But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”

28 Is this man dxConiah a despised, broken pot,
a dyvessel no one cares for?
Why are he and his children hurled and cast
into a dzland that they do not know?
29 eaO land, land, land,
hear the word of the Lord!
30Thus says the Lord:
Write this man down as ebchildless,
a man who shall not succeed in his days,
ecfor none of his offspring shall succeed
edin sitting on the throne of David
and ruling again in Judah.”
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