Jeremiah 2

1. The manifestation* of the Lord was upon me, a declaration,
2. "Go and preach:
'The graciousness of your childhood is recalled* unto you, the kindness of your hopefullness, as you walked behind* me in the wilderness in a land that cannot be cultivated.
3. "Israel blessed the Lord with the top* portion of their crop, whoever ate them were held accountable; evil shall befall them,' said the Lord.
4. "Listen to the revelations* of the Lord, O, House of Jacob and all you tribes of the House of Israel,"
5. Thus says the Lord, "What abomination did your ancestors find in me that they distanced themselves from me and went after nothing and inherited nothing?
6. "They did not even say, 'Wbere is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt? Who fetched us from the wilderness, from a deserted and desicated land foreshadowed by death, from a land through which no man passes, and where no human being settles?'
7. "Who broght you to the land that can be cultivated,* to eat of its fruits and its goodness, and you came and tasted my land,* but, alas, you defiled you defiled your inheritance in me.*
8. "Did not the high priests say, 'Where is the Lord?' and the protectors of the Law not know me? Did not the shepherd lie about me,* the prophets prophesy through Ba'al* and pursue that which is useless?
9. "Because of that the judgment shall be upon you,"* says the Lord. "Together with your children's children you shall be judged.
10. "Cross over to the islands of Cathay and see, and send forth to Qiddar and learn it well, then see if it is like that?
11. "Did the nations change their gods, those that are not even gods? They exchanged their worship with my providential care.*
12. "The heavens could not fathom this;* they were shaken and utterly fearful," said the Lord.
13. "Because they committed two evils against me: they left me, the fountain of the Living Waters, and they went along and dug up for themselves holes, unsealed holes that cannot hold water.*
14. "Why, then, is Israel a slave, if he was born at home? That is why he was carried off as booty.
15. "The lions roar against him, they raise their voices; they make the earth into a wasteland, and its towns they wipe out of inhabitants.
16. "Even the children of Memphis and Tenphis have dominated you one by one,*
17. "For, behold, this is what was done to you, on account of your abandoning your Lord God, in the season that he fetched you from the road.*
18. "Now, why* are you going [back] to the ways* of Egypt, [do you want] to drink the waters of slavery [again]? And why are you going back to the ways of Ashur, [do you want] to drink the waters of The Rivers?
19. "Your evil shall drive you away and your acquicense shall punish you, and you shall know and see that they are evil and bitter, as you have abandoned your Lord God, and you have no fear of me," says the Lord.
20. "Because from eternity* I roke your yoke and cut down your noose,* and you declared that I shall not serve other gods; but, behold, upon every hill that rises and under every [surface] that sinks, you lose* [your way] and fornicate.*
21. "Yet, I planted you, a remnant [set aside] from all the wholesome seedlings, how could you have turned on me and treated me as a foreign vein?
22. "If you are bleached with nitrate and dyed with potassium, you shall not expunge your sins before me," says the Lord.
23. "How can you say you are undefiled: Did you not go after Ba'al?* Look at your treacherous path and admit* what you have done. You [even] raised your voice as you dashed along the path,
24. "Like the Zebra that learns to do according to its own will in the wilderness, its spirit is ascendant like the camel when they [go to] bring it back, whoever wants her does not trouble themselves, for they shall find her in her [usual] path.
25. "Your feet have stopped [moving] because they are bare, your throat has [stopped speaking] because of thirst, as yoiu have declared to me, 'I do not wish to be empowered,' because you have loved foreigners and it is after them that you wish to go.
26. "As the thieve is shamed when he is caught, so shall the Children of Israel be shamed, they and their kings, their nobles,* high priests, and their prophets.
27. "And they said to the wood, 'You are our father,' and to the stone, "You gave us birth,' because they bent down their necks to me but they did not lower their faces whence in the season of their wickedness they could say, 'arise, come to our aid and save us.'
28. "So where are those gods of yours that you made? That will rise and save you in the season of your wickedness? Because their number is like the number of your towns, O, Judea.
29. "Wherefore have you become judges with me?* You have all lied about me," says the Lord.
30. "In vain* I struck your sons; they learned* no discipline. The sword devoured your prophets like a raging lion.
31. "For centuries you have heard the manifestation of the Lord; why then did Israel end up in the desert,* or end up in a desolate land?* Why, then, do my people say, 'We came down* [once,] we will not come to you again.'?
32. "Wherefore, does a virgin lose her groom or the bride her husband? Yet my people lost [track of] me Days without number.
33. "Whence again you secured your paths so as to seek mercy, that, behold, you even learned to be wicked in your ways.
34. "And also in your hands there was found the blood of the poor righteous souls. It was not by careful search that I found them, they were under every tree.
35. "You said, 'I am virtuous and because of it your anger has turned away from me.' Behold, I shall judge you for saying to me, 'I did not sin.'
36. "How accustomed you are to revert to your ways? you were shamed by Egypt just as you were shamed when you left Ashur.
37. "Also from here you shall be exiled with your hands upon your head when the Lord's wrath is upon those with whom you are allied, for you shall not be able to count on them."
*2:1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Explanation," or "argument."
*2:2.1 Lit. Ar. id.:  "Credited."
*2:2.2 Lit. Ar. idiom retained: "Followed."
*2:3 Lit. Ar. id.: "Head."
*2:7.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Farmable."
*2:7.2 Lit. Ar. idiom retained: "Yield of my land."
*2:7.3 Lit. Ar. id.: "My inheritance."
*2:8.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Lie in me."
*2:8.2 Lit. Aramaic: "The calf."
*2:9 Lit. Ar. id.: "Judgment with you."
*2:11 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction retained: "They preferred to worship the gods rather than receive my assistance."
*2:12 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Finished over it."
*2:13 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "Leaking chambers in which water cannot remain."
*2:16 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Head by head," "first one first," or "head first."
*2:17 Lit. Ar. idiom retained: "From the wilderness."
*2:18.1 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "What is it with you?"
*2:18.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "On the road to Egypt."
*2:20.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Your hangings," or "what they hang you with."
*2:20.2 Lit. Ar. id.: "You adulterate."
*2:20.3 Lit. Ar. id.: "You are misled."
*2:23.1 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction retained: "Did you not worship the calf?"
*2:23.2 Lit. Ar. id.: "Know."
*2:29 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction retained: "Have you put yourselves on the same level with me?"
*2:30.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Emptily."
*2:30.2 Lit. Ar. id.: "Received."
*2:31.1 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "Wherefore did the wilderness become for Israel?"
*2:31.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construciton: "Or like a foul land?"
*2:31.3 Lit. Ar. id.: "We descended."

Jeremiah Index | Bible Index