Jeremias 2

1 And he said, Thus says the Lord,

Yahweh gave me another message

2 I remember the kindness of your youth, and the love of your espousals,

[to proclaim to everyone in Jerusalem. He said that I should tell them this] [MET]: “I, Yahweh, remember that you very much wanted to please me [long ago]. [You tried to please me like] a bride [tries to please her husband]; You loved me, and you followed me through the desert [DOU].

3 in following the Holy One of Israel, says the Lord, Israel was the holy [people] to the Lord, [and] the first fruits of his increase: all that devoured him shall offend; evils shall come upon them, says the Lord.

[At that time you] Israelis (were set apart/belonged only) to me; [you belonged to me like] the first part of the harvests belong to me [MET]. I promised to punish all those who harmed you, my people, and truly I did send disasters on them. [That happened because I], Yahweh, said [that it would happen].”

4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and every family of the house of Israel.

So, you [descendants of] [MTY] Jacob, all you people of [MTY] Israel,

5 Thus says the Lord, What trespass have your fathers found in me, that they have revolted far from me, and gone after vanities, and become vain?

listen to what Yahweh says: “(What sin did I commit [RHQ] that caused your ancestors to turn far away from me?/Though your ancestors found no fault in me, they turned far away from me.) They worshiped worthless idols, and they themselves became worthless.

6 And they said not, Where is the Lord, who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who guided us in the wilderness, in an untried and trackless land, in a land which no man at all went through, and no man lived there?

They did not say, ‘Yahweh brought us [safely] out of Egypt, and he led us through a desert where there were a lot of pits; he led us where there was no water and where it was very dangerous, through a land where no one lives, and no one even travels. (So where is Yahweh now?/So he should be helping us now!) [RHQ]’

7 And I brought you to Carmel, that you should eat the fruits thereof, and the good thereof; and you went in, and defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.

And when I brought you into a very fertile land, in order that you could enjoy [all] the fruit and [other] good things that you would harvest, you caused the land that I promised to give to you to be unfit for me and to become disgusting/detestable to me.

8 The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that held by the law knew me not: the shepherds also sinned against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after that which profited not.

[Your] priests also did not say, ‘(Where is Yahweh now?/Yahweh should be helping us now!)’ [RHQ] Those who teach/explain my laws do not [want to] know me, and [your] leaders have rebelled against me. [Your] prophets gave you messages from [their god] Baal, and they worship worthless idols.”

9 Therefore I will yet plead with you, and will plead with your children's children.

“So, I will accuse you in court. [In future years], I will say what your children and your grandchildren have done that is wrong. [That will happen because I], Yahweh, have said [that it will happen].

10 For go to the isles of the Chettians, and se; and send to Kedar, and observe accurately, and see if such things have been done;

If you go [west] to the island of Cyprus, or if you go [east] to Kedar [land, ] and if you ask people in those places, they will tell you that no people [from their countries] have ever done the wicked things that you people have done!

11 if the nations will change their gods, though they are not gods: but my people have changed their glory, [for that] from which they shall not be profited.

The people of no other nation have ever [RHQ] abandoned their gods that they thought were glorious and started to worship gods that are not really gods, but you people have abandoned me, your glorious God, and are worshiping gods that are useless.

12 The heaven is amazed at this, and is very exceedingly horror-struck, says the Lord.

[It is as though everything in] the sky is surprised and dismayed/appalled [about what you have done]; [it is as though] they tremble because they are very horrified.

13 For my people has committed two [faults], and evil ones: they have forsaken me, the fountain of water of life, and hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water.

[You], my people, have done two evil things: You have rejected me, the one who is [like] [MET] a fountain [where you can obtain] fresh water, and you [are worshiping gods that are like] [MET] pits in the ground that are cracked and which are not able to hold any water.

14 Is Israel a servant, or a home-born slave? why has he become a spoil?

You Israeli people, you were certainly not [RHQ] slaves when you were born; you were captured [by your enemies].

15 The lions roared upon him, and uttered their voice, which have made his land a wilderness: and his cities are broken down, that they should not be inhabited.

[Your enemies] [MET] roared [like] lions, and they destroyed your land. [Now] your towns have been burned, and no one lives in them.

16 Also the children of Memphis and Taphnas have known you, and mocked you.

Soldiers from Memphis and Tahpenes, [cities in Egypt], have [defeated you] [and] shaved your heads [to show that you are their slaves].

17 Has not your forsaking me brought these things upon you? says the Lord your God.

But it is [RHQ] because you abandoned [me], Yahweh, that these disasters have happened to you.

18 And now what have you to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the water of Geon? and what have you to do with the way of the Assyrians, to drink the water of rivers?

So (why are you trying to make an alliance with [MET] the rulers of Egypt?/it certainly will not help you to make an alliance with the rulers of Egypt) [RHQ]. Why are you trying to make an alliance with [MET] the rulers of Assyria who live near the [Euphrates] River?

19 Your apostasy shall correct you, and your wickedness shall reprove you: know then, and see, that your forsaking me [has been] bitter to you, says the Lord your God; and I have taken no pleasure in you, says the Lord your God.

[It is because] you have been [very] wicked that I [PRS] will punish you. It is because you have turned away from me that I [PRS] will condemn you. [When I do that], you will realize that painful and evil [DOU] things will happen to you because you have forsaken [me], Yahweh, your God, and you no [longer] revere me. [That will certainly happen because] I, Yahweh, the Commander of the armies of angels in heaven, have said it.

20 For of old you have broken your yoke, and plucked asunder your bands; and you has said, I will not serve you, but will go upon every high hill, and under every shady tree, there will I indulge in my fornication.

Long ago, you stopped obeying [me] [MET], and you would not allow [me] to lead you [MET]; you refused to worship [me]. Instead, you worship idols that are under trees on the top of every hill, and your young women have sex with [EUP] [men at those places].

21 Yet I planted you a fruitful vine, entirely of the right sort: how are you a strange vine turned to bitterness!

[It is as though] [MET] you were a grapevine that I planted when it was a cutting from a very good vine. So now it is disgusting that [RHQ] you have become [like] a rotten worthless vine.

22 Though you should wash yourself with nitre, and multiply to yourself soap, [still] you are stained by your iniquities before me, says the Lord.

Your guilt from your sins is like [MET] very bad stains on a cloth, and you cannot get rid of those stains even by using very strong soap. [This is true because I], Yahweh, have said it.

23 How will you say, I am not polluted, and have not gone after Baal? behold your ways in the burial-ground, and know what you have done: her voice has howled in the evening:

You say that you have not sinned. You say ‘We have not become unacceptable to God; we have not worshiped Baal.’ But think about [the disgusting things that you do very eagerly] in [Hinnom] Valley [outside Jerusalem]. You are like desperate female camels, running here and there [to find male camels to have sex with].

24 she has extended her ways over the waters of the desert; she was hurried along by the lusts of her soul; she is given up [to them], who will turn her back? none that seek her shall be weary; at [the time of] her humiliation they shall find her.

You are [like] wild female donkeys in the desert. They sniff the air to find where the male donkeys are, and no one can [RHQ] restrain them. The male donkeys that want them do not become tired searching for them, because at mating time they find them [easily].

25 Withdraw your foot from a rough way, and your throat from thirst: but she said I will strengthen myself: for she loved strangers, and went after them.

You constantly run here and there [to find idols to worship], with the result that your sandals are worn out, and your throats have become dry. [I told you to stop doing that], but you said, ‘We cannot stop, because we love foreign gods, and we must worship them.’”

26 As is the shame of a thief when he is caught, so shall the children of Israel be ashamed; they, and their kings, and their princes, and their priests, and their prophets.

[Yahweh says this]: “A robber is disgraced when he is caught. And all of you, including your kings and priests and prophets, are similarly disgraced.

27 They said to a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You has begotten me: and they have turned [their] backs to me, and not their faces: yet in the time of their afflictions they will say, Arise, and save us.

You say to [a piece of] wood [that is carved to become a sacred idol], ‘You are our father!’ And you say to a stone [that you have set up], ‘You are our mother!’ You have rejected [IDM] me, but when you experience troubles, you cry out to me to rescue you.

28 And where are your gods, which you made for yourself? will they arise and save in the time of your affliction? for according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Juda; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem they sacrificed to Baal.

Why do you not [RHQ] cry out to the gods that you made? You have as many gods as you have cities [and towns] in Judah. So why do you not plead with them to rescue you when you experience disasters?

29 Therefore do you speak to me? you all have been ungodly, and you all have transgressed against me, says the Lord.

You complain that it was wrong for me [not to have rescued you], but you have all rebelled against me.

30 In vain have I struck your children; you have not received correction: a sword has devoured your prophets as a destroying lion; yet you feared not.

I punished some of you, but you did not learn anything from my doing that. You have killed many of the prophets that I [sent to you], like [SIM] fierce lions kill [other animals].

31 Hear you the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Have I been a wilderness or a dry land to Israel? therefore has my people said, We will not be ruled over, and will not come to you any more?

You people of Israel, pay attention to what I say. I have certainly [RHQ] never [abandoned you] in a desert; I have never [left you] in a land full of darkness. So, why do you, my people, say ‘We are free from God’s control; we will not return to [worship] God any more’?

32 Will a bride forget her ornaments, or a virgin her girdle? but my people has forgotten me days without number.

A young woman would certainly never [RHQ] forget [to wear] her jewelry, and a bride would never [RHQ] forget to wear her wedding dress, but you my people have forgotten me for many years.

33 What fair device will you yet employ in your ways, so as to seek love? [it shall] not [be] so; moreover you has done wickedly in corrupting your ways;

You know how to easily find [gods from other countries] whom you can love. You can find them as easily as a prostitute [can find men to sleep with].

34 and in your hands has been found the blood of innocent souls; I have not found them in holes, but on every oak.

Although you have on your clothes the blood of poor people whom you have murdered, people who (were innocent/had not done things that are wrong),

35 Yet you said, I am innocent: only let his wrath be turned away from me. Behold, I [will] plead with you, whereas you say, I have not sinned.

you say ‘We have not done anything that is wrong; so surely [Yahweh] is not angry with us.’ But I will punish [MTY] you [severely] for saying ‘We have not sinned.’

36 For you has been so exceedingly contemptuous as to repeat your ways; but you shall be ashamed of Egypt, as you were ashamed of Assur.

Previously you requested [the army of] Assyria to help you, but they were not able to help you. Now you have requested [the army of] Egypt to help you, but they will not be able to help you, either.

37 For you shall go forth thence also with your hands upon your head; for the Lord has rejected your hope, and you shall not prosper in it.

They will capture you, and you will be [their prisoners] [MTY], led to Egypt, [very ashamed] with your hands on your heads. That will happen because I, Yahweh, have rejected those [nations] that you are relying on, and they will not be able to help you at all.”