³ Come here, you children of sorcery,
    offspring of adultery and prostitution!
⁴ Whom are you mocking?
    Against whom do you open your mouth wide
    and stick out your tongue?
Aren’t you children of rebellion, offspring of lies,
⁵     who console yourselves with idols under every green tree,
    who slaughter children in the valleys, under the rocky cliffs?
⁶ You belong with the smooth talkers^[a] in the valley;
    they, they are your lot.
For them you poured out a drink offering,
    and presented a grain offering.
    Should I condone these things?
⁷ On a very high mountain you made your bed.
    You went up there to offer a sacrifice.
⁸ Behind the door and the doorpost
    you placed your symbols.
You abandoned me and lay down,
    making room in your bed
    and making deals for yourself with them.^[b]
You loved their bed;
    you saw their nakedness.
⁹ You went down to Molech^[c] with oil,
    and you slathered on your ointments;
    you sent your messengers far away,
    sent them down to the underworld.^[d]
10 Worn out by all your efforts,
    yet you wouldn’t say, “This is useless.”
You found new strength;
    therefore, you weren’t tired.
¹¹ Whom did you dread and fear so that you lied,
    didn’t remember me or give me a thought?
Isn’t it because I was silent and closed my eyes
    that you stopped fearing me?
¹² I will bring evidence about your righteousness and your actions;
    they won’t help you.
¹³ When you cry out,
    let those things you’ve gathered save you!
The wind will lift them all;
    one breath will take them away.
but those taking refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.

¹⁴ It will be said: “Survey, survey; build a road!
    Remove barriers from my people’s road!”
¹⁵ The one who is high and lifted up,
    who lives forever, whose name is holy, says:
I live on high, in holiness,
    and also with the crushed^[e] and the lowly,
    reviving the spirit of the lowly,
    reviving the heart of those who have been crushed.^[f]
16 I won’t always accuse,
    nor will I be enraged forever.
    It is my own doing that their spirit is exhausted—
    I gave them breath!
¹⁷ I was enraged about their illegal profits;
    I struck them; in rage I withdrew from them.
Yet they went on wandering wherever they wanted.
¹⁸     I have seen their ways, but I will heal them.
    I will guide them,
        and reward them with comfort.
And for those who mourn,
¹⁹     I will create reason for praise:^[g]
    utter prosperity to those far and near,
    and I will heal them, says the Lord.
²⁰ But the wicked are like the churning sea that can’t keep still.
    They churn up from their waters muck and mud.
²¹     There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.