I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown.^(A)
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
    disaster came upon them,
            says the Lord.^(B)

What wrong did your ancestors find in me
    that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?^(C)
6 They did not say, “Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
    in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
    in a land that no one passes through,
    where no one lives?”^(D)
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
    to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.^(E)
8 The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
    Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers^[a] transgressed against me;
    the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and went after things that do not profit.^(F)

²⁶ As a thief is shamed when caught,
    so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
they, their kings, their officials,
    their priests, and their prophets,^(D)
27 who say to a tree, “You are my father,”
    and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
For they have turned their backs to me
    and not their faces.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
    “Come and save us!”^(E)
28 But where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
Let them come, if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble,
for you have as many gods
    as you have towns, O Judah.^(F)

²⁹ Why do you complain against me?
    You have all rebelled against me,
            says the Lord.^(G)
30 In vain I have struck down your children;
    they accepted no correction.
Your own sword devoured your prophets
    like a ravening lion.^(H)
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord!^[a]
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
    or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, “We are free;
    we will come to you no more”?^(I)
32 Can a young woman forget her ornaments
    or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me,
    days without number.^(J)