“What has happened to us is our own fault. We have done evil things, and our guilt is great. But you, our God, have punished us less than we deserve; you have left a few of us alive.
I prayed, “My God, I am too ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to you, my God, because our sins are so many. They are higher than our heads. Our guilt even reaches up to the sky.
How terrible! Israel is a nation of sin, a people loaded down with guilt, a group of children doing evil, children who are full of evil. They have left the Lord; they hate God, the Holy One of Israel, and have turned away from him as if he were a stranger.
The look on their faces shows they are guilty; like the people of Sodom, they are proud of their sin. They don’t care who sees it. How terrible it will be for them, because they have brought much trouble on themselves.
The Lord says, “Shout out loud. Don’t hold back. Shout out loud like a trumpet. Tell my people what they have done against their God; tell the family of Jacob about their sins.
We know that we suffer because of our sins. Lord, do something to help us for the good of your name. We have left you many times; we have sinned against you.
“Look up to the bare hilltops, Judah. Is there any place where you have not been a prostitute? You have sat by the road waiting for lovers, like an Arab in the desert. You made the land unclean, because you did evil and were like a prostitute.
But she has refused to obey my laws and has been more evil than the nations. She has refused to obey my rules, even more than nations around her. The people of Jerusalem have rejected my laws and have not lived by my rules.