Israel Has Forsaken God

¹Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says:‘I remember the devotion of your youth,your love as a bride,how you followed Me in the wilderness,in a land not sown.

³Israel was holy to the LORD,the firstfruits of His harvest.All who devoured herwere found guilty;disaster came upon them,’”declares the LORD.

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

⁵This is what the LORD says:“What fault did your fathers find in Methat they strayed so far from Me?They followed worthless idols,and became worthless themselves.

⁶They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORDwho brought us up from the land of Egypt,who led us through the wilderness,through a land of deserts and pits,a land of drought and darkness,a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

⁷I brought you into a fertile landto eat its fruit and bounty,but you came and defiled My landand made My inheritance detestable.

⁸The priests did not ask,‘Where is the LORD?’The experts in the law no longer knew Me,and the leaders rebelled against Me.The prophets prophesied by Baaland followed useless idols.

⁹Therefore, I will contend with you again,declares the LORD,and I will bring a caseagainst your children’s children.

¹⁰Cross over to the coasts of Cyprusand take a look;send to Kedar and consider carefully;see if there has ever been anything like this:

¹¹Has a nation ever changed its gods?(Yet they are not gods at all.)But My people have exchanged their Gloryfor useless idols.

¹²Be stunned by this, O heavens;be shocked and utterly appalled,”declares the LORD.

¹³“For My people have committed two evils:They have forsaken Me,the fountain of living water,and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

The Consequence of Israel’s Sin

¹⁴Is Israel a slave?Was he born into slavery?Why then has he become prey?

¹⁵The young lions have roared at him;they have sounded their voices.They have laid waste his land;his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

¹⁶The men of Memphisand Tahpanheshave shaved the crown of your head.

¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourselfby forsaking the LORD your Godwhen He led you in the way?

¹⁸Now what will you gain on your way to Egyptto drink the waters of the Nile?What will you gain on your way to Assyriato drink the waters of the Euphrates?

¹⁹Your own evil will discipline you;your own apostasies will reprimand you.Consider and realizehow evil and bitter it isfor you to forsake the LORD your Godand to have no fear of Me,”declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

²⁰“For long ago you broke your yokeand tore off your chains,saying, ‘I will not serve!’Indeed, on every high hilland under every green treeyou lay down as a prostitute.

²¹I had planted you like a choice vinefrom the very best seed.How could you turn yourself before Meinto a rotten, wild vine?

²²Although you wash with lyeand use an abundance of soap,the stain of your guiltis still before Me,”declares the Lord GOD.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

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-camelgalloping 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 bareand 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 Meand 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 troubleand save you if they can;for your gods are as numerousas 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 prophetslike a voracious lion.”

³¹You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD:“Have I been a wilderness to Israelor 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 jewelryor a bride her wedding sash?Yet My people have forgotten Mefor days without number.

³³How skillfully you pursue love!Even the most immoral of womencould learn from your ways.

³⁴Moreover, your skirts are stainedwith 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 Egyptjust as you were by Assyria.

³⁷Moreover, you will leave that placewith your hands on your head,for the LORD has rejected those you trust;you will not prosper by their help.”

Disaster Predicted

¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

²“You must not marry or have sons or daughters in this place.”

³For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and the mothers who bore them, and the fathers who fathered them in this land:

⁴“They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”

⁵Indeed, this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house where there is a funeral meal. Do not go to mourn or show sympathy, for I have removed from this people My peace, My loving devotion, and My compassion,” declares the LORD.

⁶“Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.

⁷No food will be offered to comfort those who mourn the dead; not even a cup of consolation will be given for the loss of a father or mother.

⁸You must not enter a house where there is feasting and sit down with them to eat and drink.

⁹For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom.

¹⁰When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’

¹¹Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.

¹²And you have done more evil than your fathers. See how each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart instead of obeying Me.

¹³So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

God Will Restore Israel

¹⁴Yet behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt.’

¹⁵Instead they will say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north and all the other lands to which He had banished them.’ For I will return them to their land that I gave to their forefathers.

¹⁶But for now I will send for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them down on every mountain and hill, even from the clefts of the rocks.

¹⁷For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.

¹⁸And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations.”

¹⁹O LORD, my strength and my fortress,my refuge in the day of distress,the nations will come to Youfrom the ends of the earth, and they will say,“Our fathers inherited nothing but lies,worthless idols of no benefit at all.

²⁰Can man make gods for himself?Such are not gods!”

²¹“Therefore behold, I will inform them,and this time I will make them knowMy power and My might;then they will knowthat My name is the LORD.

The Good and Bad Figs

¹After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away Jeconiahson of Jehoiakim king of Judah, as well as the officials of Judah and the craftsmen and metalsmiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon,the LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.

²One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early, but the other basket contained very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

³“Jeremiah,” the LORD asked, “what do you see?”“Figs!” I replied. “The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”

⁴Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

⁵“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.

⁶I will keep My eyes on them for good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

⁷I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD. They will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with all their heart.

⁸But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.

⁹I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

¹⁰And I will send against them sword and famine and plague, until they have perished from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”

A Gentle Answer Turns Away Wrath

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath,but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge,but the mouth of the fool spouts folly.

³The eyes of the LORD are in every place,observing the evil and the good.

⁴A soothing tongue is a tree of life,but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.

⁵A fool rejects his father’s discipline,but whoever heeds correction is prudent.

⁶The house of the righteous has great treasure,but the income of the wicked is trouble.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge,but not so the hearts of fools.

⁸The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD,but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

⁹The LORD detests the way of the wicked,but He loves those who pursue righteousness.

¹⁰Discipline is harsh for him who leaves the path;he who hates correction will die.

¹¹Sheol and Abaddonlie open before the LORD—how much more the hearts of men!

¹²A mocker does not love to be reproved,nor will he consult the wise.

¹³A joyful heart makes a cheerful countenance,but sorrow of the heart crushes the spirit.

¹⁴A discerning heart seeks knowledge,but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the oppressed are bad,but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.

¹⁶Better a little with the fear of the LORDthan great treasure with turmoil.

¹⁷Better a dish of vegetables where there is lovethan a fattened ox with hatred.

¹⁸A hot-tempered man stirs up strife,but he who is slow to anger calms dispute.

¹⁹The way of the slacker is like a hedge of thorns,but the path of the upright is a highway.

²⁰A wise son brings joy to his father,but a foolish man despises his mother.

²¹Folly is joy to one who lacks judgment,but a man of understanding walks a straight path.

²²Plans fail for lack of counsel,but with many advisers they succeed.

²³A man takes joy in a fitting reply—and how good is a timely word!

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the wise,that he may avoid going down to Sheol.

²⁵The LORD tears down the house of the proud,but He protects the boundaries of the widow.

²⁶The LORD detests the thoughts of the wicked,but the words of the pure are pleasant to Him.

²⁷He who is greedy for unjust gain brings trouble on his household,but he who hates bribes will live.

²⁸The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,but the mouth of the wicked blurts out evil.

²⁹The LORD is far from the wicked,but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰The light of the eyes cheers the heart,and good news nourishes the bones.

³¹He who listens to life-giving reproofwill dwell among the wise.

³²He who ignores discipline despises himself,but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.

³³The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom,and humility comes before honor.