¹⁷ Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ^18 (A)The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they ^(B)pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger. ^19 (C)Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?”

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”

²¹ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(D)“Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. ^22 (E)For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. ²³ But this is what I commanded them, saying, ^(F)‘Obey My voice, and ^(G)I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ ^24 (H)Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but ^(I)followed^[a] the counsels and the ^[b]dictates of their evil hearts, and ^(J)went^[c] backward and not forward. ²⁵ Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even ^(K)sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. ^26 (L)Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but ^(M)stiffened their neck. ^(N)They did worse than their fathers.

²⁷ “Therefore ^(O)you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

Judgment on Obscene Religion

²⁸ “So you shall say to them, ‘This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God ^(P)nor receive correction. ^(Q)Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. ^29 (R)Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights; for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath.’