I declared them to you of old; before they took place I informed you, That you might not say, “My idol did them, my statue, my molten image commanded them.”
But now, what am I to do here? —oracle of the Lord. My people have been taken away for nothing; their rulers mock, oracle of the Lord; constantly, every day, my name is reviled.
As for you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go! each of you, and worship your idols. Listen to me! You shall never again desecrate my holy name with your offerings and your idols!
And you shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you thus, for the sake of my name, not according to your evil ways and wanton deeds, house of Israel—oracle of the Lord God.
I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be desecrated in the eyes of the nations among whom they were: in the eyes of the nations I had made myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Not for your sake do I act, house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you desecrated among the nations to which you came.