Jeremiah 2:1-13 ▼

1 MOREOVER the word of the LORD came upon me, saying,

2 Go and proclaim in the ears of the people of Jerusalem, and say, Thus says the LORD: I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your long-suffering; for you walked after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown.

3 Israel has sanctified to the LORD the first fruits of his crops; all those who embezzle them shall be condemned; evil shall come upon them, says the LORD.

4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:

5 Thus says the LORD: What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me and have walked after vanity and have profited nothing?

6 Neither did they say, Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a waste and depressed land, through a desolate land and a land of the shadow of death, a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwells?

7 And I brought you into a land of plenty, to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.

8 The priests did not say, Where is the LORD? And those who handle the law did not know me; the leaders also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.

9 Therefore I will yet contend with you, says the LORD; and with your children's children I will contend.

10 For cross over to the islands of China and see; and send to Kedar, and understand diligently, and see if there ever has been such a thing as this.

11 Have the Gentiles changed their gods, which are not gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

12 Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and tremble and be exceedingly afraid, says the LORD.

13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they went and dug for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water.