“But they, in their own kingdom, With Your abundant goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the rock of your strong defense. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine branches of a strange god.
¶“Why should I pardon you? Your sons have forsaken Me And sworn by those who are not gods. I had satisfied them to the full, Then they committed adultery And trooped to the harlot’s house.
Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, bear now the punishment of your lewdness and your harlotries.’ ”
Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more abundant his fruit, The more altars he abounded; The better his land, The better he made the sacred pillars.
“So I will visit the days of the Baals upon her When she used to offer offerings in smoke to them And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry And go after her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares Yahweh.
“So she will pursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them; And she will seek them, but will not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go, and I will return to my first husband, For it was better for me then than now!’
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from ministering as My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I Myself also will forget your children.
For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away; I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.
And they do not cry out to Me in their heart When they wail on their beds; For the sake of grain and new wine they gather together as sojourners; They depart from Me.
So Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities that it may consume its palatial dwellings.
They have set up kings, but not by Me; They have appointed princes, but I did not know it. With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, That they might be cut off.