¹⁷ Nevertheless, ^(A)my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or ^(B)make a full end of them in the wilderness.

¹⁸ “And I said to ^(C)their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk ^(D)in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, ^(E)nor defile yourselves with their idols. ^19 (F)I am the Lord your God; ^(G)walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, ²⁰ and ^(H)keep my Sabbaths holy that ^(I)they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’ ^21 (J)But the children ^(K)rebelled against me. ^(L)They did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.

^(M)“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness. ^22 (N)But I withheld my hand ^(O)and acted for the sake of my name, ^(P)that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out. ^23 (Q)Moreover, ^(R)I swore to them in the wilderness ^(S)that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries, ²⁴ because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, ^(T)and their eyes were set on their fathers' idols. ^25 (U)Moreover, I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life, ²⁶ and I defiled them through ^(V)their very gifts ^(W)in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it ^(X)that they might know that I am the Lord.

²⁷ “Therefore, ^(Y)son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: In this also your fathers blasphemed me, by ^(Z)dealing treacherously with me. ²⁸ For when I had brought them into the land that ^(AA)I swore to give them, then wherever they saw ^(AB)any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented ^(AC)the provocation of their offering; there they sent up their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings. ²⁹ (I said to them, ^(AD)‘What is the high place to which you go?’ So its name is called Bamah^[a] to this day.)

³⁰ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(AE)Will you defile yourselves after the manner of your fathers and go ^(AF)whoring after their detestable things? ³¹ When you present your gifts and ^(AG)offer up your children in fire,^[b] you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. And ^(AH)shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? ^(AI)As I live, declares the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.