the Week of Christ the King / Proper 29 / Ordinary 34
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Hebrew Names Version
Jeremiah 2
1 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2 Go, and cry in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, Thus says the LORD, I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. 3 Yisra'el [was] holiness to the LORD, the first fruits of his increase: all who devour him shall be held guilty; evil shall come on them, says the LORD. 4 Hear you the word of the LORD, O house of Ya`akov, and all the families of the house of Yisra'el: 5 thus says the LORD, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain? 6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD who brought us up out of the land of Mitzrayim, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man lived? 7 I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit of it and the goodness of it; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination. 8 The Kohanim didn't say, Where is the LORD? and those who handle the law didn't know me: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Ba`al, and walked after things that do not profit.
9 Therefore I will yet contend with you, says the LORD, and with your children's children will I contend. 10 For pass over to the isles of Kittiyim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing. 11 Has a nation changed [its] gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be astonished, you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be you very desolate, says the LORD. 13 For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14 Is Yisra'el a servant? is he a home-born [slave]? why is he become a prey? 15 The young lions have roared on him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant. 16 The children also of Mof and Tachpanches have broken the crown of your head. 17 Haven't you procured this to yourself, in that you have forsaken the LORD your God, when he led you by the way? 18 Now what have you to do in the way to Mitzrayim, to drink the waters of the Shichor? or what have you to do in the way to Ashshur, to drink the waters of the River? 19 Your own wickedness shall correct you, and your backsliding shall reprove you: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that you have forsaken the LORD your God, and that my fear is not in you, says the Lord, the LORD of Hosts.
20 For of old time I have broken your yoke, and burst your bonds; and you said, I will not serve; for on every high hill and under every green tree you did bow yourself, playing the prostitute. 21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me? 22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the Lord GOD. 23 How can you say, I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Ba`alim? see your way in the valley, know what you have done: [you are] a swift dromedary traversing her ways; 24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that snuffs up the wind in her desire; in her occasion who can turn her away? all those who seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her. 25 Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst: but you said, It is in vain; no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. 26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Yisra'el ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their Kohanim, and their prophets; 27 who tell a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. 28 But where are your gods that you have made you? let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble: for according to the number of your cities are your gods, Yehudah.
29 Why will you contend with me? you all have transgressed against me, says the LORD. 30 In vain have I struck your children; they received no correction: your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. 31 Generation, see the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Yisra'el? or a land of thick darkness? why say my people, We are broken loose; we will come no more to you? 32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number. 33 How trimmest you your way to seek love! therefore even the wicked women have you taught your ways. 34 Also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor: you did not find them breaking in; but it is because of all these things. 35 Yet you said, I am innocent; surely his anger is turned away from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with you, because you say, I have not sinned. 36 Why go you about so much to change your way? you shall be ashamed of Mitzrayim also, as you were ashamed of Ashshur. 37 From there also shall you go forth, with your hands on your head: for the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper with them.
