Israel has Forsaken God
1 The word of the Lord came to me, 2 “Go and proclaim to Jerusalem, ‘The Lord says,
“I remember your faithfulness in your youth,
the love of a bride,
how you followed me through the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
the first fruits of his harvest.
All who devoured him were held guilty.
Disaster came upon them,” ’says the Lord.”
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 5 The Lord says,
“What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me,
that they have gone so far from me,
and have gone after worthless things,
so that they themselves became worthless?
6 They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
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 no one passed through,
and where no man lived?’
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruit and its goodness,
but when you entered, you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’
and those who handle the law did not know me.
The rulers also transgressed against me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed things that do not profit.
9 “Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says the Lord,
“and I will contend with your children’s children.
10 Cross over to the islands of Kittim and look.
Send to Kedar and consider carefully
whether there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has a nation exchanged its gods,
which really are no gods?
But my people have exchanged their glory
for that which does not profit.
12 Be astonished at this, you heavens
and be horribly afraid.
Be utterly devastated,” says the Lord.
13 “For my people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living waters,
and dug cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
The Results of Israel’s Sin
14 Is Israel a slave?
Was he born into slavery?
Why has he become a captive?
15 The young lions have roared at him and growled.
They have laid his land to waste.
His cities are burned up, uninhabited.
16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes
have broken the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself,
in that you have forsaken the Lord your God,
when he was leading you along the way?
18 Now what do you gain by going to Egypt,
to drink the waters of the Shihor?
Or why do you go the way of Assyria,
to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your own wickedness will correct you,
and your backsliding will convict you.
Know therefore and see
that it is an evil and bitter thing,
that you have forsaken the Lord your God,
and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, God of Hosts.
20 “For long ago I broke off your yoke,
and broke your chains.
You said, ‘I will not serve,’
for on every high hill
and under every green tree
you prostrated yourself,
playing the prostitute.
21 Yet I had planted you, a noble vine,
a pure and faithful seed.
How then have you turned before me
into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine?
22 For though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord God.
Israel’s Unfaithfulness
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled.
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your ways in the valley,
and know what you have done.
You are a like a wild female camel, running loose,
24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
that sniffs the wind in her craving.
When she is in heat, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her need not weary themselves.
In her mating season they will find her.
25 “Keep your feet from being bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is useless,
for I love these foreign gods,
and I will go after them.’
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found,
so the house of Israel is ashamed,
they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
27 who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’
and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’
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 for yourselves?
Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble,
for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
29 “Why will you contend with me?
All of you have transgressed against me,” says the Lord.
30 “I have struck your children in vain.
They received no correction.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion.
31 Generation, consider the word of the Lord:
Have I been a wilderness to Israel?
Or a land of thick darkness?
Why do my people say,
‘We have broken loose.
We will no longer come to you?’
32 “Can a maiden forget her jewelry,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
for days without number.
33 How well you prepare your way to seek love!
Even wicked women
learn from your ways.
34 Also, your clothes are stained
with the blood 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 has turned away from me.’
“I will judge you,
because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Why do you go around
constantly changing your ways?
You will be ashamed of Egypt also,
as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 You will also leave that place
with your hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you will not prosper with them.