So when you stretch out your hands ⌞in prayer⌟, I will turn my eyes away from you. Even though you offer many prayers, I will not listen because your hands are covered with blood.
You say, “We made a treaty with death and an agreement with the grave. When the overwhelming disaster passes by, it won’t matter to us, because we have taken refuge in our lies, and falsehood is our hiding place.”
They eat ashes because they are deceived. Their own misguided minds lead them astray. They can’t rescue themselves or ask themselves, “Isn’t what I hold in my right hand a false god?”
We have rebelled and denied the Lord. We have turned away from our God. We have spoken about oppression and revolt. We have conceived and uttered lies in our hearts.
So I said, “Oh, no! I’m doomed. Every word that passes through my lips is sinful. I live among people with sinful lips. I have seen the king, the Lord of Armies!”
“ ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: Your predictions are false, and your visions are lies. That is why I’m against you, declares the Almighty Lord.
That is why, as I live, declares the Almighty Lord, I will let you be murdered. Murderers will pursue you. Since you don’t hate murdering people, murder will pursue you.
He answered me, “The wickedness of the nations of Israel and Judah is terrible. The land is filled with murder, and the city is filled with wrongdoing. They think that the Lord has abandoned the land and that he doesn’t see.
“How horrible it will be for these people. They have run away from me. They must be destroyed because they’ve rebelled against me. I want to reclaim them, but they tell lies about me.