Dual PanelGod's appeal to Israel and Judah
1THE word of the LORD came to me:
2Go, make this proclamation in the hearing of Jerusalem: These are the words of the LORD: I remember in your favour the loyalty of your youth, your love during your bridal days, when you followed me through the wilderness, through a land unsown.
3Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest; no one who devoured her went unpunished, disaster overtook them. This is the word of the LORD.
4Listen to the word of the LORD, people of Jacob, all you families of Israel.
5These are the words of the LORD: What fault did your forefathers find in me, that they went so far astray from me, pursuing worthless idols and becoming worthless like them;
6that they did not ask, “Where is the LORD, who brought us up from Egypt and led us through the wilderness, through a barren and broken country, a country parched and forbidding, where no one ever travelled, where no one made his home?”
7I brought you into a fertile land to enjoy its fruit and every good thing in it; but when you entered my land you defiled it and made loathsome the home I gave you.
8The priests no longer asked, “Where is the LORD?” Those who handled the law had no real knowledge of me, the shepherds of the people rebelled against me; the prophets prophesied in the name of Baal and followed gods who were powerless to help.
9Therefore I shall bring a charge against you once more, says the LORD, against you and against your descendants.
10Cross to the coasts and islands of Kittim and see, send to Kedar and observe closely, see whether there has been anything like this:
11has a nation ever exchanged its gods, and these no gods at all? Yet my people have exchanged their glory for a god altogether powerless.
12Be aghast at this, you heavens, shudder in utter horror, says the LORD.
13My people have committed two sins: they have rejected me, a source of living water, and they have hewn out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns which hold no water.
14Is Israel a slave? Was he born in slavery? If not, why has he become spoil?
15Lions roar loudly at him; his land has been laid waste, his towns razed to the ground and abandoned.
16The people of Noph and Tahpanhes will break your heads.
17Is it not your rejection of the LORD your God when he guided you on the way that brings all this upon you?
18And now, why should you make off to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? Or why make off to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19It is your own wickedness that will punish you, your own apostasy that will condemn you. See for yourselves how bitter a thing it is and how evil, to reject the LORD your God, to hold me in dread no longer. This is the word of the Lord GOD of Hosts.
20Many ages ago you shattered your yoke and snapped your traces, crying, “I will not serve you”; and you sprawled in promiscuous vice on all the hilltops, under every spreading tree.
21I planted you as a choice red vine, a wholly pure strain, yet now you are turned into a vine that has reverted to its wild state!
22Though you wash with soda and use soap lavishly, the stain of your sin is still there for me to see. This is the word of the Lord GOD.
23How can you say, “I am not defiled; I have not followed the baalim”? Look at your conduct in the valley; recall what you have done: you have been like a she-camel, twisting and turning as she runs,
24rushing off into the wilderness, snuffing the wind in her lust; in her heat who can restrain her? None need tire themselves out in pursuit of her; she is easily found at mating time.
25Stop before your feet are bare and your throat is parched. But you said, “No; I am desperate. I love foreign gods and I must go after them.”
26As a thief is ashamed when he is found out, so the people of Israel feel ashamed, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
27who say to a block of wood, “You are our father” and cry “Mother” to a stone. On me they have turned their backs and averted their faces from me. Yet in their time of trouble they say, “Rise up and save us!”
28Where are the gods you made for yourselves? In your time of trouble let them arise and save you. For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns.
29Why argue your case with me? You are rebels, every one of you. This is the word of the LORD.
30In vain I punished your people -- the lesson was not learnt; your sword devoured your prophets like a ravening lion.
31Have I shown myself to Israel as some wilderness or waterless land? Why do my people say, “We have broken away; we shall come to you no more”?
32Will a girl forget her finery or a bride her wedding ribbons? Yet times without number my people have forgotten me.
33You pick your way so well in search of lovers; even wanton women can learn from you.
34Yes, and there is blood on the corners of your robe -- the life-blood of the innocent poor, though you did not catch them housebreaking. For all these things I shall punish you.
35You say, “I am innocent; surely his anger has passed away.” But I shall challenge your claim to have done no sin.
36Why do you so lightly change your course? You will be let down by Egypt as you were by Assyria;
37you will go into exile from here with your hands on your heads, for the LORD rejects those on whom you rely, and from them you will gain nothing.