20“For long ago I broke your yoke
         And tore off your bonds;
         But you said, ‘I will not serve!’
         For on every high hill
         And under every green tree
         You have lain down as a harlot.

21“Yet I planted you a choice vine,
         A completely faithful seed.
         How then have you turned yourself before Me
         Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

22“Although you wash yourself with lye
         And use much soap,
         The stain of your iniquity is before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.

23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled,
         I have not gone after the Baals’?
         Look at your way in the valley!
         Know what you have done!
         You are a swift young camel entangling her ways,

24A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness,
         That sniffs the wind in her passion.
         In the time of her heat who can turn her away?
         All who seek her will not become weary;
         In her month they will find her.

25“Keep your feet from being unshod
         And your throat from thirst;
         But you said, ‘It is hopeless!
         No! For I have loved strangers,
         And after them I will walk.’

26“As the thief is shamed when he is discovered,
         So the house of Israel is shamed;
         They, their kings, their princes
         And their priests and their prophets,

27Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
         And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
         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
         Which you made for yourself?
         Let them arise, if they can save you
         In the time of your trouble;
         For according to the number of your cities
         Are your gods, O Judah.

29“Why do you contend with Me?
         You have all transgressed against Me,” declares the LORD.

30“In vain I have struck your sons;
         They accepted no chastening.
         Your sword has devoured your prophets
         Like a destroying lion.

31“O generation, heed the word of the LORD.
         Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
         Or a land of thick darkness?
         Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam;
         We will no longer come to You’?

32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
         Or a bride her attire?
         Yet My people have forgotten Me
         Days without number.

33“How well you prepare your way
         To seek love!
         Therefore even the wicked women
         You have taught your ways.

34“Also on your skirts is found
         The lifeblood of the innocent poor;
         You did not find them breaking in.
         But in spite of all these things,

35Yet you said, ‘I am innocent;
         Surely His anger is turned away from me.’
         Behold, I will enter into judgment with you
         Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

36“Why do you go around so much
         Changing your way?
         Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt
         As you were put to shame by Assyria.

37“From this place also you will go out
         With your hands on your head;
         For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust,
         And you will not prosper with them.”

NASB ©1995

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