Bible Reading Plan

I remember the loyalty of your youth,^(a)
your love as a bride—
how you followed Me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.
³ Israel was holy to the Lord ,^(b)
the firstfruits of His harvest.^(c)
All who ate of it found themselves guilty;^(d)
disaster came on them."
This is the Lord 's declaration.

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord , house of Jacob
and all families of the house of Israel.
⁵ This is what the Lord says:

What fault did your fathers find in Me^(e)
that they went so far from Me,
followed worthless idols,^(f)
and became worthless themselves?^(g)
6 They stopped asking, "Where is the Lord ^(h)
who brought us from the land of Egypt,
who led us through the wilderness,⁽ⁱ⁾
through a land of deserts and ravines,
through a land of drought and darkness,^[a]
a land no one traveled through
and where no one lived?"
⁷ I brought you to a fertile land^(j)
to eat its fruit and bounty,
but after you entered, you defiled My land;^(k)
you made My inheritance^(l) detestable.
⁸ The priests quit asking, "Where is the Lord ?"
The experts in the law no longer knew Me,^(m)
and the rulers⁽ⁿ⁾ rebelled against Me.
The prophets prophesied by^[b] Baal^(o)
and followed useless idols.^(p)

⁹ Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.
This is the Lord 's declaration.
I will bring a case against your children's children.^(q)
10 Cross over to Cyprus^[c](r) and take a look.
Send someone to Kedar^(s) and consider carefully;
see if there has ever been anything like this:
¹¹ Has a nation ever exchanged its gods?^(t)
(But they were not gods!^(u))
Yet My people have exchanged their^[d] Glory
for useless idols.^(v)
12 Be horrified at this, heavens;^(w)
be shocked and utterly appalled.
This is the Lord 's declaration.

¹³ For My people have committed a double evil:
They have abandoned Me,^(x)
the fountain of living water,^(y)
and dug cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.^(z)

¹⁴ Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?^[e]
Why else has he become a prey?
¹⁵ The young lions have roared at him;^(aa)
they have roared loudly.
They have laid waste his land.^(ab)
His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
¹⁶ The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes^(ac)
have also broken your skull.
¹⁷ Have you not brought this on yourself^(ad)
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^(ae)
to drink the waters of the Nile?^[f]
What will you gain
by traveling along the way to Assyria^(af)
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?^(ag)
19 Your own evil will discipline you;^(ah)
your own apostasies will reprimand you.
Think it over and see how evil and bitter^(ai) it is
for you to abandon the Lord your God
and to have no fear of Me.
This is the declaration
of the Lord God of Hosts.

²⁰ For long ago I^[g] broke your yoke;^(aj)
I^[h] tore off your chains.
You insisted, "I will not serve!"
On every high hill
and under every green tree^(ak)
you lie down like a prostitute.^(al)

²¹ I planted you, a choice vine^(am)
from the very best seed.
How then could you turn into
a degenerate, foreign vine?^(an)

²² Even if you wash with lye
and use a great amount of soap,^(ao)
the stain of your sin is still in front of Me.^(ap)
This is the Lord God 's declaration.
²³ How can you protest, "I am not defiled;
I have not followed the Baals"?^(aq)
Look at your behavior in the valley;
acknowledge what you have done.^(ar)
You are a swift young camel
twisting and turning on her way,
²⁴ a wild donkey^(as) at home^[i] 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 tired;
they will find her in her mating season.^[j]
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you say, "It's hopeless;^(at)
I love strangers,^(au)
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.^(av)
They, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets^(aw)
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,^(ax)
yet in their time of disaster^(ay) they beg,
"Rise up and save us!"
²⁸ But where are your gods you made for yourself?
Let them rise up and save you^(az)
in your time of disaster if they can,
for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.

²⁹ Why do you bring a case against Me?^(ba)
All of you have rebelled against Me.
This is the Lord 's declaration.
³⁰ I have struck down your children in vain;
they would not accept discipline.^(bb)
Your own sword has devoured your prophets^(bc)
like a ravaging lion.
³¹ Evil generation,
pay attention to the word of the Lord !
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
or a land of dense darkness?^(bd)
Why do My people claim,
"We will go where we want;^[k]
we will no longer come to You"?
³² Can a young woman forget her jewelry^(be)
or a bride her wedding sash?
Yet My people have forgotten Me^(bf)
for countless days.
³³ How skillfully you pursue love;
you also teach evil women your ways.
³⁴ Moreover, your skirts are stained
with the blood of the innocent poor.^(bg)
You did not catch them breaking and entering.^(bh)
But in spite of all these things
³⁵ you claim, "I am innocent.^(bi)
His anger is sure to turn away from me."
But I will certainly judge you
because you have said, "I have not sinned."^(bj)
36 How unstable you are,^(bk)
constantly changing your ways!
You will be put to shame by Egypt^(bl)
just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
³⁷ Moreover, you will be led out from here
with your hands on your head^(bm)
since the Lord has rejected those you trust;^(bn)
you will not succeed even with their help.^[l]

¹ If^[a] a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him to marry another,
can he ever return to her?^(a)
Wouldn't such a land^[b] become totally defiled?
But you!
You have played the prostitute with many partners^(b)—
can you return to Me?^(c)
This is the Lord 's declaration.
² Look to the barren heights^(d) and see.
Where have you not been immoral?
You sat waiting for them beside the highways^(e)
like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land
with your prostitution and wickedness.^(f)
3 This is why the showers haven't come^(g)—
why there has been no spring rain.
You have the brazen look^(h) of a prostitute^[c]
and refuse to be ashamed.^(i)
4 Have you not lately called to Me, "My Father.^(j)
You were my friend in my youth.^(k)
5 Will He bear a grudge forever?^(l)
Will He be endlessly infuriated?"
This is what you have said,
but you have done the evil things
you are capable of.

Return, unfaithful Israel.^(v)
This is the Lord 's declaration.
I will not look on you with anger,^[f]
for I am unfailing in My love.^(w)
This is the Lord 's declaration.
I will not be angry forever.^(x)
13 Only acknowledge your guilt^(y)—
you have rebelled against the Lord your God.^(z)
You have scattered your favors to strangers
under every green tree^(aa)
and have not obeyed My voice.
This is the Lord 's declaration.

¹⁹ I thought: How I long to make you My sons
and give you a desirable land,
the most beautiful inheritance^(am) of all the nations.
I thought: You will call Me, my Father,
and never turn away from Me.
²⁰ However, as a woman may betray her lover,^[h]
so you have betrayed^(an) Me, house of Israel.
This is the Lord 's declaration.

²¹ A sound is heard on the barren heights,
the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,
for they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.^(ao)
22 Return, you faithless children.
I will heal your unfaithfulness.^(ap)
"Here we are, coming to You,
for You are the Lord our God.
²³ Surely, falsehood comes from the hills,
commotion from the mountains,^(aq)
but the salvation of Israel
is only in the Lord our God.^(ar)
24 From the time of our youth
the shameful one^[i] has consumed
what our fathers have worked for—
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.
²⁵ Let us lie down in our shame;
let our disgrace cover us.^(as)
We have sinned against the Lord our God,^(at)
both we and our fathers,
from the time of our youth even to this day.^(au)
We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."