²⁹ Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia,^[a](A) a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.^(B)

¹⁴ “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall,^(A) figures of Chaldeans^[a] portrayed in red,^{(B) 15} with belts^(C) around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.^{[b] 16} As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers^(D) to them in Chaldea.^{(E) 17} Then the Babylonians^(F) came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.^{(G) 18} When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body,^(H) I turned away^(I) from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.^{(J) 19} Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt. ²⁰ There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. ²¹ So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.^[c](K)

¹⁴ I will tear down the wall^(A) you have covered with whitewash and will level it to the ground so that its foundation^(B) will be laid bare. When it^[a] falls,^(C) you will be destroyed in it; and you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ So I will pour out my wrath against the wall and against those who covered it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it, ¹⁶ those prophets of Israel who prophesied to Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her when there was no peace, declares the Sovereign Lord.^(D)”’

¹⁷ “Now, son of man, set your face^(E) against the daughters^(F) of your people who prophesy out of their own imagination. Prophesy against them^{(G) 18} and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on all their wrists and make veils of various lengths for their heads in order to ensnare people. Will you ensnare the lives of my people but preserve your own? ¹⁹ You have profaned^(H) me among my people for a few handfuls of barley and scraps of bread.^(I) By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed those who should not have died and have spared those who should not live.^(J)

²⁰ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds.^{(K) 21} I will tear off your veils and save my people from your hands, and they will no longer fall prey to your power. Then you will know that I am the Lord.^{(L) 22} Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies,^(M) when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives,^{(N) 23} therefore you will no longer see false visions^(O) or practice divination.^(P) I will save^(Q) my people from your hands. And then you will know that I am the Lord.^(R)’”

⁹ But the people did not listen. Manasseh led them astray, so that they did more evil^(A) than the nations^(B) the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.

¹² They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods^(A) of the peoples around them.^(B) They aroused^(C) the Lord’s anger^{(D) 13} because they forsook^(E) him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.^{(F) 14} In his anger^(G) against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands^(H) of raiders who plundered^(I) them. He sold them^(J) into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist.^{(K) 15} Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them^(L) to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.^(M)

¹⁶ Then the Lord raised up judges,^[a](N) who saved^(O) them out of the hands of these raiders. ¹⁷ Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted^(P) themselves to other gods^(Q) and worshiped them.^(R) They quickly turned^(S) from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.^{(T) 18} Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved^(U) them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented^(V) because of their groaning^(W) under those who oppressed and afflicted^(X) them. ¹⁹ But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt^(Y) than those of their ancestors,^(Z) following other gods and serving and worshiping them.^(AA) They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn^(AB) ways.