^3 (A)Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— ⁴ but let your adorning be ^(B)the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

²² What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The ^(A)dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

^15 (A)“But you trusted in your beauty ^(B)and played the whore^[a] because of your renown ^(C)and lavished your whorings^[b] on any passerby; your beauty^[c] became his. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.^{[d] 17} You also took ^(D)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^(E)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸ And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^(F)and set my oil and my incense before them. ^19 (G)Also my bread that I gave you—^(H)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^(I)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. ^20 (J)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^(K)these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹ that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? ²² And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember ^(L)the days of your youth, ^(M)when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

The Way of Folly

⁴⁷ Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ ^(A)So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her arms.