17 Have you not (A)done this to yourself
By your abandoning the Lord your God
When He (B)led you in the way?
18 But now what are you doing (C)on the road to Egypt,
Except to drink the waters of the [a](D)Nile?
Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
Except to drink the waters of the Euphrates River?
19 (E)Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your (F)apostasies will punish you;
Know therefore and see that it is evil and (G)bitter
For you to abandon the Lord your God,
And (H)the fear of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord [b]God of armies.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 2:18 Heb Shihor
  2. Jeremiah 2:19 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord

[a](A)Oh that I had in the desert
A travelers’ lodging place;
So that I might leave my people
And go away from them!
For all of them are (B)adulterers,
An assembly of (C)treacherous people.
“They (D)bend their tongues like their bows;
Lies and not truth prevail in the land;
For they (E)proceed from evil to evil,
And they (F)do not know Me,” declares the Lord.
“Let everyone (G)be on guard against his neighbor,
And (H)do not trust any brother;
Because every (I)brother utterly [b]betrays,
And every neighbor (J)goes about as a slanderer.
Everyone (K)deceives his neighbor
And does not speak the truth.
They have taught their tongue to speak lies;
They (L)weary themselves committing wrongdoing.
Your (M)dwelling is in the midst of deceit;
Through deceit they (N)refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.

Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says:

“Behold, I will refine them and (O)put them to the test;
For (P)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?
Their (Q)tongue is a deadly arrow;
It speaks deceit;
With his mouth one (R)speaks peace to his neighbor,
But inwardly he (S)sets an ambush for him.
(T)Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord.
“Shall I not avenge Myself
On a nation such as this?

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:2 Ch 9:1 in Heb
  2. Jeremiah 9:4 I.e., like Jacob (a play on words)

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