Israel’s Unfaithfulness

¹¹ Then the children of Israel did ^(A)evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; ¹² and they ^(B)forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed ^(C)other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they ^(D)bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger.

Jerusalem’s Harlotry

^15 (A)“But you trusted in your own beauty, ^(B)played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. ^16 (C)You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored ^[a]high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. ¹⁷ You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹ Also ^(D)My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as ^[b]sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.

^20 (E)“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, ²¹ that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the ^(F)fire? ²² And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your ^(G)youth, ^(H)when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.

²³ “Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God— ²⁴ that ^(I)you also built for yourself a shrine, and ^(J)made a ^[c]high place for yourself in every street. ²⁵ You built your high places ^(K)at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. ²⁶ You also committed harlotry with ^(L)the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to ^(M)provoke Me to anger.

⁷ For ^(A)so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had ^(B)feared other gods, ⁸ and ^(C)had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. ⁹ Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves ^[a]high places in all their cities, ^(D)from watchtower to fortified city. ^10 (E)They set up for themselves sacred pillars and ^(F)wooden images^{[b] (G)}on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, ¹² for they served idols, ^(H)of which the Lord had said to them, ^(I)“You shall not do this thing.”

¹³ Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His ^(J)prophets, ^(K)every seer, saying, ^(L)“Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ Nevertheless they would not hear, but ^(M)stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who ^(N)did not believe in the Lord their God. ¹⁵ And they ^(O)rejected His statutes ^(P)and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed ^(Q)idols, ^(R)became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should ^(S)not do like them. ¹⁶ So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, ^(T)made for themselves a molded image and two calves, ^(U)made a wooden image and worshiped all the ^(V)host of heaven, ^(W)and served Baal. ^17 (X)And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, ^(Y)practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and ^(Z)sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left ^(AA)but the tribe of Judah alone.

¹⁹ Also ^(AB)Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. ²⁰ And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and ^(AC)delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His ^(AD)sight. ²¹ For ^(AE)He tore Israel from the house of David, and ^(AF)they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. ²² For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, ²³ until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, ^(AG)as He had said by all His servants the prophets. ^(AH)So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.

¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses: “Behold, you will ^[a]rest with your fathers; and this people will ^(A)rise and ^(B)play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will ^(C)forsake Me and ^(D)break My covenant which I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then My anger shall be ^(E)aroused against them in that day, and ^(F)I will forsake them, and I will ^(G)hide My face from them, and they shall be ^[b]devoured. And many evils and troubles shall befall them, so that they will say in that day, ^(H)‘Have not these evils come upon us because our God is ^(I)not among us?’ ¹⁸ And ^(J)I will surely hide My face in that day because of all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹ “Now therefore, write down this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel; put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^(K)a witness for Me against the children of Israel. ²⁰ When I have brought them to the land flowing with milk and honey, of which I swore to their fathers, and they have eaten and filled themselves ^(L)and grown fat, ^(M)then they will turn to other gods and serve them; and they will provoke Me and break My covenant.