2:1 | The Lord spoke to me. He said: |
2:2 | “Go and declare in the hearing of the people of Jerusalem:* ‘This is what the Lord says: “I have fond memories of you,* how devoted you were to me in your early years.* I remember how you loved me like a new bride; you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had never been planted. |
2:3 | Israel was set apart to the Lord; they were like the first fruits of a harvest to him.* All who tried to devour them were punished; disaster came upon them,” says the Lord.’” |
2:4 | Now listen to what the Lord has to say, you descendants* of Jacob, all you family groups from the nation* of Israel. |
2:5 | This is what the Lord says: “What fault could your ancestors* have possibly found in me that they strayed so far from me?* They paid allegiance to* worthless idols, and so became worthless to me.* |
2:6 | They did not ask: ‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt, who brought us through the wilderness, through a land of desert sands and rift valleys, through a land of drought and deep darkness,* through a land in which no one travels, and where no one lives?’* |
2:7 | I brought you* into a fertile land so you could enjoy* its fruits and its rich bounty. But when you entered my land, you defiled it;* you made the land I call my own* loathsome to me. |
2:8 | Your priests* did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’* Those responsible for teaching my law* did not really know me.* Your rulers rebelled against me. Your prophets prophesied in the name of the god Baal.* They all worshiped idols that could not help them.* |
2:9 | “So, once more I will state my case* against you,” says the Lord. “I will also state it against your children and grandchildren.* |
2:10 | Go west* across the sea to the coasts of Cyprus* and see. Send someone east to Kedar* and have them look carefully. See if such a thing as this has ever happened: |
2:11 | Has a nation ever changed its gods (even though they are not really gods at all)? But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God,* for a god that cannot help them at all!* |
2:12 | Be amazed at this, O heavens!* Be shocked and utterly dumbfounded,” says the Lord. |
2:13 | “Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water,* and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.” |
2:14 | “Israel is not a slave, is he? He was not born into slavery, was he?* If not, why then is he being carried off? |
2:15 | Like lions his enemies roar victoriously over him; they raise their voices in triumph.* They have laid his land waste; his cities have been burned down and deserted.* |
2:16 | Even the soldiers* from Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skulls, people of Israel.* |
2:17 | You have brought all this on yourself, Israel,* by deserting the Lord your God when he was leading you along the right path.* |
2:18 | What good will it do you* then* to go down to Egypt to seek help from the Egyptians?* What good will it do you* to go over to Assyria to seek help from the Assyrians?* |
2:19 | Your own wickedness will bring about your punishment. Your unfaithful acts will bring down discipline on you.* Know, then, and realize how utterly harmful* it was for you to reject me, the Lord your God,* to show no respect for me,”* says the Lord God who rules over all.* |
2:20 | “Indeed,* long ago you threw off my authority and refused to be subject to me.* You said, ‘I will not serve you.’* Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill and under every green tree, like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.* |
2:21 | I planted you in the land like a special vine of the very best stock. Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes?* |
2:22 | You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent. You can use as much soap as you want. But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,”* says the Lord God.* |
2:23 | “How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to* the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom!* Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.* |
2:24 | You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness. In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male.* No one can hold her back when she is in heat. None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her. At mating time she is easy to find.* |
2:25 | Do not chase after other gods until your shoes wear out and your throats become dry.* But you say, ‘It is useless for you to try and stop me because I love those foreign gods* and want to pursue them!’ |
2:26 | Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught, so the people of Israel* will suffer dishonor for what they have done.* So will their kings and officials, their priests and their prophets. |
2:27 | They say to a wooden idol,* ‘You are my father.’ They say to a stone image, ‘You gave birth to me.’* Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me.* Yet when they are in trouble, they say, ‘Come and save us!’ |
2:28 | But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them save you when you are in trouble. The sad fact is that* you have as many gods as you have towns, Judah. |
2:29 | “Why do you try to refute me?* All of you have rebelled against me,” says the Lord. |
2:30 | “It did no good for me to punish your people. They did not respond to such correction. You slaughtered your prophets like a voracious lion.”* |
2:31 | You people of this generation, listen to what the Lord says. “Have I been like a wilderness to you, Israel? Have I been like a dark and dangerous land to you?* Why then do you* say, ‘We are free to wander.* We will not come to you any more?’ |
2:32 | Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels? Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire? But my people have forgotten me for more days than can even be counted. |
2:33 | “My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers!* Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!* |
2:34 | Even your clothes are stained with the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong; you did not catch them breaking into your homes.* Yet, in spite of all these things you have done,* |
2:35 | you say, ‘I have not done anything wrong, so the Lord cannot really be angry with me any more.’ But, watch out!* I will bring down judgment on you because you say, ‘I have not committed any sin.’ |
2:36 | Why do you constantly go about changing your political allegiances?* You will get no help from Egypt just as you got no help from Assyria.* |
2:37 | Moreover, you will come away from Egypt with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame* because the Lord will not allow your reliance on them to be successful and you will not gain any help from them.* |