So I foretold it to you long ago. before it came about I made you hear, lest you should say, ‘My idol did them, my carved image, yes, my molded image commanded them.’
“Now therefore, what do I have here?” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “My people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail” —it is Adonai’s declaration— “and My Name is continually blasphemed all day long.
Nevertheless, I withheld My hand. For the sake of My Name I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
“As for you, house of Israel,” thus says Adonai Elohim: “Go on serving your idols, all of you! Yet afterward, you will surely listen to Me. My holy Name you will no longer profane with your gifts and your idols.
Then you will know that I am Adonai, when I deal with you for My Name’s sake and not according to your evil ways and your corrupt deeds, house of Israel.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
But I acted, for the sake of My Name, to keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations, where they were, in whose sight I made Myself known to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘I do not do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for My holy Name, which you profaned among the nations wherever you went.
‘So now, our God, listen to the prayers and petitions of Your servant, and cause Your face to shine upon Your devastated Sanctuary, for the sake of my Lord.