Jeremiah : Being The Baird Lecture for 1922. George Adam Smith
passage to Jeremiah, whether because it is in prose or because it treats of Northern Israel as well as Judah.138 But on parts of it the colours are distinctly of a period later than that of the Prophet. All the rest of the Oracles may be taken to be from himself. Duhm after much hesitation has come to doubt the genuineness of Ch. II. 5–13, but his suspicions of deuteronomic influence seem groundless, and even if they were sound they would be insufficient for denying the verses to Jeremiah.139
II. 1, 2, And he said, Thus sayeth the Lord:140
I remember the troth of thy youth,
Thy love as a bride,
Thy following Me through the desert,
The land unsown.
Holy to the Lord was Israel, 3
First-fruit of His income;
All that would eat it stood guilty,
Evil came on them.
Rede of the Lord—
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Hear the Lord's Word, House of Jacob, 4
All clans of Israel's race!
[Thus sayeth the Lord] 5
What wrong found your fathers in Me,
That so far they broke from Me,
And following after the Bubble141
Bubbles became.
Nor said they: 6
Where is the Lord who carried us up
From the land of Miṣraim?142
Who led us through the desert,
Land of waste and chasms,
Land of drought and barren,143
A land which nobody crosses,
Nor mankind settles upon it.
And I brought you into a garden, 7
To feed on its fruit and its wealth.
But coming ye fouled My land,
My heritage turned to loathing.
The priests never said, 8
Where is the Lord?
They who handle the Law knew Me not,
The rulers144 rebelled against Me;
By Baal the prophets did prophesy,
And followed the worthless.
So still with you must I strive,145 9
And strive with your sons.146
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For cross to the isles of Kittîm and look 10
Send to Kedár, and think for yourselves,147
And see, was ever like this?
Have any nations148 changed their gods, 11
And these no gods at all?
Yet My people exchanged their149 Glory
For that which is worthless.
Be heavy,150 O heavens, for this, 12
Shudder and shudder again!
Twain the wrongs My people have wrought—13
Me have they left,
The Fount of live water,
To hew themselves cisterns,
Cisterns broken,
That cannot hold water!
Israel a slave! 14
Or house-born serf!
Why he for a prey?
Against him the young lions roar, 15
Give forth their voice,
And his land they lay waste,
Burned are his towns and tenantless.
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The sons, too, of Noph and Taḥpanḥes have forced, 16
Have abused thee.151
Is not all this being done thee 17
For thy leaving of Me?152
And now what to thee is the road to Miṣraim,153
Nile's waters to drink?
Or what is to thee the road to Asshúr, 18
To drink of the River?
Be thy scourge thine own sin, 19
Thy doublings convict thee!
Know and see how sore for thyself,
How bitter to leave Me!
But never was awe of Me thine—
Rede of the Lord thy God.154
From of old thou hast broken thy yoke, 20
Hast burst thy bonds,
Saying, “I will not serve!”
While upon every high hill,
And under each rustling tree,
Harlot thou sprawlest!
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Yet a noble vine did I plant thee, 21
Wholly true seed;
How could'st thou change to a corrupt,155
A wildling grape?
Yea, though thou scour thee with nitre, 22
And heap to thee lye,
Ingrained is thy guilt before Me,
Rede of the Lord, thy God.156
How sayest thou, “I'm not defiled, 23
Nor gone after the Baals.”
Look at thy ways in the Valley,
And own thy deeds!
A young camel, light o' heel,157
Zig-zagging her tracks,
A heifer, schooled to the desert—24
In the heat of her lust,
Snapping the wind in her passion,
Who is to turn her?
None that would seek her need strain them,
In her month they shall find her.
Save thou thy feet from the peeling, 25
Thy throat from thirst!
But thou sayest, “No use!158
For with strangers I'm fallen in love,
Them must I after!”
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Like the shame of the thief when he's caught, 26
Shall Israel's sons159 be shamed.
[They and their kings and their princes,
Their priests and their prophets]160
Who say to a stock “Thou my Father!” 27
To a stone “Thou hast borne me!”
Their161 backs they have turned to Me
Never their162 faces.
Yet in time of their trouble they say
“Rise up and save us!”
Where