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Jeremiah 2

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1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
1 God's Message came to me. It went like this:
2 Go, and cry in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, Thus says the LORD, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
2 "Get out in the streets and call to Jerusalem, 'God's Message! I remember your youthful loyalty, our love as newlyweds. You stayed with me through the wilderness years, stuck with me through all the hard places.
3 Yisra'el [was] holiness to the LORD, the first fruits of his increase: all who devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come on them, says the LORD.
3 Israel was God's holy choice, the pick of the crop. Anyone who laid a hand on her would soon wish he hadn't!'" God's Decree.
4 Hear you the word of the LORD, O house of Ya`akov, and all the families of the house of Yisra'el:
4 Hear God's Message, House of Jacob! Yes, you - House of Israel!
5 thus says the LORD, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
5 God's Message: "What did your ancestors find fault with in me that they drifted so far from me, Took up with Sir Windbag and turned into windbags themselves?
6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Mitzrayim, 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 none passed through, and where no man lived?
6 It never occurred to them to say, 'Where's God, the God who got us out of Egypt, Who took care of us through thick and thin, those rough-and-tumble wilderness years of parched deserts and death valleys, A land that no one who enters comes out of, a cruel, inhospitable land?'
7 I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.
7 "I brought you to a garden land where you could eat lush fruit. But you barged in and polluted my land, trashed and defiled my dear land.
8 The Kohanim 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 Ba`al, and walked after things that do not profit.
8 The priests never thought to ask, 'Where's God?' The religion experts knew nothing of me. The rulers defied me. The prophets preached god Baal And chased empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
9 Therefore I will yet contend with you, says the LORD, and with your children's children will I contend.
9 Because of all this, I'm bringing charges against you" - God's Decree - "charging you and your children and your grandchildren.
10 For pass over to the isles of Kittiyim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.
10 Look around. Have you ever seen anything quite like this? Sail to the western islands and look. Travel to the Kedar wilderness and look. Look closely. Has this ever happened before,
11 Has a nation changed [its] gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
11 That a nation has traded in its gods for gods that aren't even close to gods? But my people have traded my Glory for empty god-dreams and silly god-schemes.
12 Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be you very desolate, says the LORD.
12 "Stand in shock, heavens, at what you see! Throw up your hands in disbelief - this can't be!" God's Decree.
13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
13 "My people have committed a compound sin: they've walked out on me, the fountain Of fresh flowing waters, and then dug cisterns - cisterns that leak, cisterns that are no better than sieves.
14 Is Yisra'el a servant? is he a home-born [slave]? why is he become a prey?
14 "Isn't Israel a valued servant, born into a family with place and position? So how did she end up a piece of meat
15 The young lions have roared on him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
15 fought over by snarling and roaring lions? There's nothing left of her but a few old bones, her towns trashed and deserted.
16 The children also of Mof and Tachpanches have broken the crown of your head.
16 Egyptians from the cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken your skulls.
17 Haven't you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way?
17 And why do you think all this has happened? Isn't it because you walked out on your God just as he was beginning to lead you in the right way?
18 Now what have you to do in the way to Mitzrayim, to drink the waters of the Shichor? or what have you to do in the way to Ashshur, to drink the waters of the River?
18 "And now, what do you think you'll get by going off to Egypt? Maybe a cool drink of Nile River water? Or what do you think you'll get by going off to Assyria? Maybe a long drink of Euphrates River water?
19 Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts.
19 Your evil ways will get you a sound thrashing, that's what you'll get. You'll pay dearly for your disloyal ways. Take a long, hard look at what you've done and its bitter results. Was it worth it to have walked out on your God?" God's Decree, Master God-of-the-Angel-Armies. Addicted to Alien Gods
20 For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not serve; for on every high hill and under every green tree you did bow yourself, playing the prostitute.
20 "A long time ago you broke out of the harness. You shook off all restraints. You said, 'I will not serve!' and off you went, Visiting every sex-and-religion shrine on the way, like a common whore.
21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?
21 You were a select vine when I planted you from completely reliable stock. And look how you've turned out - a tangle of rancid growth, a poor excuse for a vine.
22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord GOD.
22 Scrub, using the strongest soaps. Scour your skin raw. The sin-grease won't come out. I can't stand to even look at you!" God's Decree, the Master's Decree.
23 How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba`alim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: [you are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways;
23 "How dare you tell me, 'I'm not stained by sin. I've never chased after the Baal sex gods'! Well, look at the tracks you've left behind in the valley. How do you account for what is written in the desert dust - Tracks of a camel in heat, running this way and that,
24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire; in her occasion who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
24 tracks of a wild donkey in rut, Sniffing the wind for the slightest scent of sex. Who could possibly corral her! On the hunt for sex, sex, and more sex - insatiable, indiscriminate, promiscuous.
25 Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.
25 "Slow down. Take a deep breath. What's the hurry? Why wear yourself out? Just what are you after anyway? But you say, 'I can't help it. I'm addicted to alien gods. I can't quit.'
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Yisra'el ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their Kohanim, and their prophets;
26 "Just as a thief is chagrined, but only when caught, so the people of Israel are chagrined, Caught along with their kings and princes, their priests and prophets.
27 who tell a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: 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.
27 They walk up to a tree and say, 'My father!' They pick up a stone and say, 'My mother! You bore me!' All I ever see of them is their backsides. They never look me in the face. But when things go badly, they don't hesitate to come running, calling out, 'Get a move on! Save us!'
28 But where are your gods that you have made you? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Yehudah.
28 Why not go to your handcrafted gods you're so fond of? Rouse them. Let them save you from your bad times. You've got more gods, Judah, than you know what to do with. Trying Out Another Sin-Project
29 Why will you contend with me? you all have transgressed against me, says the LORD.
29 "What do you have against me, running off to assert your 'independence'?" God's Decree.
30 In vain have I struck your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
30 "I've wasted my time trying to train your children. They've paid no attention to me, ignored my discipline. And you've gotten rid of your God-messengers, treating them like dirt and sweeping them away.
31 Generation, see the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Yisra'el? or a land of thick darkness? why say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more to you?
31 "What a generation you turned out to be! Didn't I tell you? Didn't I warn you? Have I let you down, Israel? Am I nothing but a dead-end street? Why do my people say, 'Good riddance! From now on we're on our own'?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
32 Young women don't forget their jewelry, do they? Brides don't show up without their veils, do they? But my people forget me. Day after day after day they never give me a thought.
33 How trimmest you your way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women have you taught your ways.
33 "What an impressive start you made to get the most out of life. You founded schools of sin, taught graduate courses in evil!
34 Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: you did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things.
34 And now you're sending out graduates, resplendent in cap and gown - except the gowns are stained with the blood of your victims! All that blood convicts you. You cut and hurt a lot of people to get where you are.
35 Yet you said, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with you, because you say, I have not sinned.
35 And yet you have the gall to say, 'I've done nothing wrong. God doesn't mind. He hasn't punished me, has he?' Don't look now, but judgment's on the way, aimed at you who say, 'I've done nothing wrong.'
36 Why go you about so much to change your way? you shall be ashamed of Mitzrayim also, as you were ashamed of Ashshur.
36 "You think it's just a small thing, don't you, to try out another sin-project when the first one fails? But Egypt will leave you in the lurch the same way that Assyria did.
37 From there also shall you go forth, with your hands on your head: for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.
37 You're going to walk away from there wringing your hands. I, God, have blacklisted those you trusted. You'll get not a lick of help from them."
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.