Jeremiah 2:14-28
Consequences of Apostasy
14 Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?[fn]
Why else has he become a prey?
15 The young lions have roared at him;
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
16 The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have also broken your skull.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself
by abandoning the LORD your God
while he was leading you along the way?
18 Now what will you gain
by traveling along the way to Egypt
to drink the water of the Nile?[fn]
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria
to drink the water of the Euphrates?
19 Your own evil will discipline you;
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Recognize[fn] how evil and bitter it is
for you to abandon the LORD your God
and to have no fear of me.
This is the declarationof the Lord GOD of Armies.
20 For long ago I[fn] broke your yoke;
I[fn] tore off your chains.
You insisted, “I will not serve! ”
On every high hill
and under every green tree
you lay down like a prostitute.
21 I planted you, a choice vine
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?
22 Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of bleach,[fn]
the stain of your iniquity is still in front of me.
This is the Lord GOD’s declaration.
23 How can you protest, “I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals”?
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,
24 a wild donkey at home[fn] in the wilderness.
She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can control her passion?
All who look for her will not become weary;
they will find her in her mating season.[fn]
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, “It’s hopeless;
I love strangers,
and I will continue to follow them.”
26 Like the shame of a thief when he is caught,
so the house of Israel has been put to shame.
They, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets
27 say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”
For they have turned their back to me
and not their face,
yet in their time of disaster they beg,
“Rise up and save us! ”
28 But where are your gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up and save you
in your time of disaster if they can,
for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.
For deeper study: David Guzik Commentary
