Israel Has Forsaken God

1Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says:
‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

3Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her were found guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.

4Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all you families of the house of Israel.

5This is what the LORD says:
“What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me? They followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves.

6They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?’

7I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but you came and defiled My land and made My inheritance detestable.

8The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the leaders rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.

9Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the LORD, and I will bring a case against your children’s children.

10Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus ²and take a look; send to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:

11Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But My people have exchanged their Glory ³for useless idols.

12Be stunned by this, O heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled,” declares the LORD.

13“For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns— broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

The Consequence of Israel’s Sin

14Is Israel a slave? Was he born into slavery?
Why then has he become prey?

15The young lions have roared at him; they have sounded their voices. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

16The men of Memphis ⁴and Tahpanhes have shaved the crown of your head.

17Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God
when He led you in the way?

18Now what will you gain on your way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile ⁵? What will you gain on your way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates ⁶?

19Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you. Consider and realize how evil and bitter it is for you to forsake the LORD your God and to have no fear of Me,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

20“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains,
saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree
you lay down as a prostitute.

21I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine?

22Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.

Israel’s Unfaithfulness

23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I have not run after the Baals’? Look at your behavior in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. You are a swift young she-camel galloping here and there,

24a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire.
Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.

25You should have kept your feet from going bare and your throat from being thirsty. But you said, ‘It is hopeless! For I love foreign gods,
and I must go after them.’

26As the thief is ashamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets

27say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

28But where are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them rise up in your time of trouble
and save you if they can; for your gods are as numerous as your cities, O Judah.

29Why do you bring a case against Me? You have all rebelled against Me,” declares the LORD.

30“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”

31You people of this generation, consider the word of the LORD:
“Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam;
we will come to You no more’?

32Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.

33How skillfully you pursue love! Even the most immoral of women
could learn from your ways.

34Moreover, your skirts are stained with the blood of the innocent poor,
though you did not find them breaking in.
But in spite of all these things

35you say, ‘I am innocent.
Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

36How impulsive you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.

37Moreover, you will leave that place with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust; you will not prosper by their help.”