13 All of those terrible things happened to us. This happened just like it is written in the Law of Moses. But we still have not asked the Lord for help! We still have not stopped sinning. We still do not pay attention to your truth, Lord.
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
13 Just as it is written in the Law of Moses as to all this evil [that would surely come upon transgressors], so it has come upon us. Yet we have not earnestly begged for forgiveness and entreated the favor of the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and have understanding and become wise in Your truth. [Deut. 4:29; 28:15ff.]
13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet have we not entreated the favor of Jehovah our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in thy truth.
13 All this trouble came upon us, exactly as it was written in the Instruction of Moses, but we didn’t try to reconcile with the LORD our God by turning from our wrongdoing or by finding wisdom in your faithfulness.
13 Just as it has been written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come upon us, and we did not entreat your face, O Lord our God, so that we might turn back from our iniquities and consider your truth.
None of the people of Israel obeyed your teachings. They all have turned away. They did not obey you. There are curses {\cf2\super [101]} and promises written in the Law of Moses. (Moses was God’s servant.) Those curses and promises tell about the punishment for not obeying the law—and all those things have happened to us. Those things happened to us because we sinned against the Lord.
“I punished you people of Judah,\par but it did not help.\par You did not come back when you were punished.\par You killed with your swords the prophets that came to you.\par You were like a dangerous lion and you killed the prophets.”\par
\{Ephraim’s\} pride speaks against him.\par The people had many, many troubles,\par but they still didn’t go back\par to the Lord their God.\par The people didn’t look to him for help.\par
I have heard Ephraim {\cf2\super [254]} crying.\par I heard Ephraim say these things:\par ‘Lord, you really punished me!\par And I learned my lesson.\par I was like a calf that was never trained.\par Please stop punishing me,\par and I will come back to you.\par You truly are the Lord my God.\par
Lord, I know that you want people\par to be loyal to you.\par You hit the people of Judah,\par but they did not feel any pain.\par You destroyed them,\par but they refused to learn their lesson.\par They became very stubborn.\par They refused to be sorry\par for the bad things they did.\par
It is written in the prophets {\cf2\super [91]} : ‘God will teach all the people.’ {\cf2\super [92]} People listen to the Father and learn from him. Those people come to me.
They never call to me from their hearts.\par Yes, they cry on their beds.\par And they cut themselves\par when they ask for grain and\par new wine.\par But \{in their hearts,\} they have turned away\par from me.\par
I am watching over those people of Judah. But I am not watching over them to take care of them. I am watching over them to hurt them. The people of Judah that live in Egypt will die from hunger and be killed by swords. They will continue to die until they are finished.
We don’t worship you.\par We don’t trust in your name.\par We aren’t excited about following you.\par So you have turned away from us.\par We are helpless before you,\par because we are full of sin.\par
In the beginning,\par I said some things would happen,\par and those things happened!\par And now, before it happens,\par I am telling you about some things\par that will happen in the future.”\par
Look at the people going down to Egypt for help. The people ask for horses. They think horses will save them. The people hope the chariots {\cf2\super [289]} and horse soldiers from Egypt will protect them. The people think they are safe because that army is very big. The people don’t trust the Holy One of Israel (God). The people don’t ask the Lord for help.
‘The Lord says this: I am bringing trouble on this place and on the people that live here. These are the troubles that are mentioned in the book that the king of Judah read.
We are all dirty with sin.\par Even our good works \{are not pure\}.\par They are like blood-stained rags.\par We are all like dead leaves.\par Our sins have carried us away like wind.\par
You became friends with many nations.\par But those nations don’t care about you.\par Your ‘friends’ have forgotten you.\par I hurt you like an enemy.\par I punished you very hard.\par I did this because of your great guilt.\par I did this because of your many sins.\par
All of those bad things happened to you because you made sacrifices to other gods. You sinned against the Lord. You didn’t obey the Lord. You didn’t follow his teachings or the laws he gave you. You didn’t keep your part of the Agreement.” {\cf2\super [360]}
Why will all these things happen? Because you did not remember what happened when you were young. You did all those bad things and made me angry. So I had to punish you for doing those bad things. But you planned even more terrible things.” The Lord my Master said those things.