¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors,^(A) and these people will soon prostitute^(B) themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake^(C) me and break the covenant I made with them.

¹⁷ Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted^(A) themselves to other gods^(B) and worshiped them.^(C) They quickly turned^(D) from the ways of their ancestors, who had been obedient to the Lord’s commands.^(E)

²⁵ But they were unfaithful^(A) to the God of their ancestors and prostituted^(B) themselves to the gods of the peoples of the land, whom God had destroyed before them.

¹⁵ “‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by^(A) and your beauty became his.^{(B) 16} You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places,^(C) where you carried on your prostitution.^(D) You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.^{[a] 17} You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.^{(E) 18} And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense^(F) before them. ¹⁹ Also the food I provided for you—the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.^(G)

²⁰ “‘And you took your sons and daughters^(H) whom you bore to me^(I) and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?^{(J) 21} You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.^{(K) 22} In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth,^(L) when you were naked and bare,^(M) kicking about in your blood.^(N)

²³ “‘Woe!^(O) Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, ²⁴ you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine^(P) in every public square.^{(Q) 25} At every street corner^(R) you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by.^{(S) 26} You engaged in prostitution^(T) with the Egyptians,^(U) your neighbors with large genitals, and aroused my anger^(V) with your increasing promiscuity.^{(W) 27} So I stretched out my hand^(X) against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over^(Y) to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines,^(Z) who were shocked by your lewd conduct. ²⁸ You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians^(AA) too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied.^{(AB) 29} Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia,^[b](AC) a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.^(AD)

³⁰ “‘I am filled with fury against you,^[c] declares the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!^{(AE) 31} When you built your mounds at every street corner and made your lofty shrines^(AF) in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

³² “‘You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband! ³³ All prostitutes receive gifts,^(AG) but you give gifts^(AH) to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.^{(AI) 34} So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.