Jeremiah 2:23–37

²³“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;

I have not run after the Baals’?

Look at your behavior in the valley;

acknowledge what you have done.

You are a swift young she-camel

galloping here and there,

²⁴a wild donkey at home in the wilderness,

sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire.

Who can restrain her passion?

All who seek her need not weary themselves;

in mating season they will find her.

²⁵You should have kept your feet from going bare

and your throat from being thirsty.

But you said, ‘It is hopeless!

For I love foreign gods,

and I must go after them.’

²⁶As the thief is ashamed when he is caught,

so the house of Israel is disgraced.

They, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets

²⁷say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’

and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

They have turned their backs to Me

and not their faces.

Yet in the time of trouble, they say,

‘Rise up and save us!’

²⁸But where are the gods you made for yourselves?

Let them rise up in your time of trouble

and save you if they can;

for your gods are as numerous

as your cities, O Judah.

²⁹Why do you bring a case against Me?

You have all rebelled against Me,”

declares the LORD.

³⁰“I have struck your sons in vain;

they accepted no discipline.

Your own sword has devoured your prophets

like a voracious lion.”

³¹You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD:

“Have I been a wilderness to Israel

or a land of dense darkness?

Why do My people say,

‘We are free to roam;

we will come to You no more’?

³²Does a maiden forget her jewelry

or a bride her wedding sash?

Yet My people have forgotten Me

for days without number.

³³How skillfully you pursue love!

Even the most immoral of women

could learn from your ways.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stained

with the blood of the innocent poor,

though you did not find them breaking in.

But in spite of all these things

³⁵you say, ‘I am innocent.

Surely His anger will turn from me.’

Behold, I will judge you,

because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

³⁶How impulsive you are,

constantly changing your ways!

You will be disappointed by Egypt

just as you were by Assyria.

³⁷Moreover, you will leave that place

with your hands on your head,

for the LORD has rejected those you trust;

you will not prosper by their help.”