Jer 2, Jer 8 | ESV | STEP | The word of the Lord came to me, saying ,

1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Go 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.”
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:

^h“What wrong did your fathers find in me
that they went far from me,
ⁱand went after ^jworthlessness, and became worthless?
6 They did not say, ^k‘Where 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.
8 The 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.
10 For 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.
12 Be appalled, ^abO heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the Lord,
13 for 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.
16 Moreover, 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?
22 Though 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.
25 Keep ^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,
27 who 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!’
28 But ^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.
30 In vain have I ^bpstruck your children;
they took no correction;
^bqyour own sword devoured your prophets
like a ravening lion.
31 And 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.
34 Also 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
35 you 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.
37 From 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 8

1 “At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be brought out of their tombs. 2 And they shall be spread ^cabefore the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and served, which they have gone after, and which they have sought and worshiped. ^cbAnd they shall not be gathered or buried. ^ccThey shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. 3 ^cdDeath shall be preferred to life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family ^cein all the places where I have driven them, declares the Lord of hosts.

Sin and Treachery

4 “You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
^cfWhen men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
5 Why then has this people ^cgturned away
in perpetual ^chbacksliding?
^ciThey hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
6 ^cjI have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
^cklike a horse plunging headlong into battle.
7 Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and ^clthe turtledove, ^cmswallow, and crane ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain}
keep the time of their coming,
^cobut my people know not
the rules ^{▼▼Or just decrees} of the Lord.
8 ^cq“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
9 ^crThe wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed ^csand taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom is in them?
10 ^ctTherefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone ^cuis greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
11 They have healed ^cvthe wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
12 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, ^cwthey were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
^cxTherefore they shall fall among the fallen;
when I punish them, they shall be overthrown,

says the Lord.
13 When I would gather them, declares the Lord,
there are ^cyno grapes on the vine,
^cznor figs on the fig tree;
^daeven the leaves are withered,
and what I gave them has passed away from them.” ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
14 Why do we sit still?
^dcGather together; ^ddlet us go into the fortified cities
and perish there,
for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish
and has ^degiven us ^dfpoisoned water to drink,
because we have sinned against the Lord.
15 ^dgWe looked for peace, but no good came;
for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
16 ^dh“The snorting of their horses is heard ^difrom Dan;
at the sound of the neighing ^djof their stallions
^dkthe whole land quakes.
They come ^dland devour the land and all that fills it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
17 For behold, I am sending among you ^dmserpents,
adders ^dnthat cannot be charmed,
^doand they shall bite you,”

declares the Lord.

Jeremiah Grieves for His People

18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me; ^{▼▼Compare Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
^dqmy heart is sick within me.
19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people
from ^drthe length and breadth of the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
^dsIs her King not in her?”
^dt“Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images
and with their foreign idols?”
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the wound of ^duthe daughter of my people is my heart wounded;
^dvI mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.
22 Is there no ^dwbalm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?