2 If only I had a place in the desert,\par a house where travelers spend the night,\par I could leave my people.\par I could go away from those people.\par Why? Because they are all unfaithful to God.\par They have all turned against him.\par
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
2 Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place (a mere shelter) for wayfaring men, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers [rendering worship to idols instead of to the Lord, Who has espoused the people to Himself]; they are a gang of treacherous men [faithless even to each other].
2 Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
2 Who will provide me, in the wilderness, with a lodging place along the road? And then I will forsake my people, and withdraw from them. For they are all adulterers, a union of transgressors.
The land of Judah is full of people that do the sin of adultery. {\cf2\super [183]} \par They are unfaithful in many ways.\par The Lord cursed the land,\par and it became very dry.\par The plants are dried and dying in the pastures.\par The fields have become like the desert.\par The prophets are evil.\par Those prophets use their influence\par and power in the wrong way.\par
The people swear, lie, kill, and steal. They do the sin of adultery, {\cf2\super [31]} and they have their babies. The people murder again and again. {\cf2\super [32]}
A baker presses dough \{to make bread\}.\par \{He puts the bread in the oven.\}\par The baker does not make the fire hotter\par while the bread is rising.\par \{But the people of Israel are not like that.\}\par The people of Israel are always making\par their fire hotter.\par
These men are your own brothers.\par Members of your own family\par are making plans against you.\par People from your own family\par are yelling at you.\par Don’t trust them,\par even when they speak to you like friends.”\par
Lord, if I argue with you,\par you are always right!\par But I want to ask you about some things that don’t seem right.\par Why are wicked people successful?\par Why do people you can’t trust have such easy lives?\par
So you people are not faithful to God! You should know that loving the world is the same as hating God. So if a person wants to be a part {\cf2\super [18]} of the world, then he makes himself God’s enemy.
The people of Judah cheated other people. People in Jerusalem and Israel did terrible things! God loves the temple. {\cf2\super [13]} But the people in Judah didn’t respect the Lord’s holy temple. The people of Judah began to worship that foreign goddess!
Her prophets {\cf2\super [20]} are always making their secret plans to get more and more. Her priests have treated holy things like they are not holy. They have done bad things to God’s teachings.
You might ask yourself,\par “Why has this bad thing happened to me?”\par Those things happened because of your many sins.\par Because of your sins,\par your skirt was torn off\par and your shoes were taken away.\par They did this to embarrass you.\par
You ask, “Why are our gifts not accepted by the Lord?” Why? Because the Lord saw the bad things you did—he is a witness {\cf2\super [14]} against you. He saw you cheat on your wife. You have been married to that woman since you were young. She was your girlfriend. Then you made your vows {\cf2\super [15]} to each other—and she became your wife. \{But you cheated on her\}.
After that whole generation died, the next generation grew up. This new generation did not know about the Lord and what the Lord had done for the people of Israel.
\{God said,\} “My people are foolish.\par They don’t know me.\par They are stupid children.\par They don’t understand.\par They are skillful at doing evil,\par but they don’t know how to do good.”\par
The Lord says,\} “Walk the streets of Jerusalem. Look around and think about these things. Search the public squares of the city. See if you can find one good person, one person that does honest things, one that searches for the truth. If you find one good person, I will forgive Jerusalem!