5. thus saith Jehovah, What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?
6. Neither said they, Where is Jehovah that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through a land that none passed through, and where no man dwelt?
7. And I brought you into a plentiful land, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.
8. The priests said not, Where is Jehovah? and they that handle the law knew me not: the rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
9. Wherefore I will yet contend with you, saith Jehovah, and with your children’s children will I contend.
10. For pass over to the isles of Kittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there hath been such a thing.
11. Hath a nation changed its gods, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith Jehovah.
13. For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14. Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he become a prey?
15. The young lions have roared upon him, and yelled; and they have made his land waste: his cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
16. The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of thy head.
17. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, when he led thee by the way?
18. And now what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor? or what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and a bitter, that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
20. For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou didst bow thyself, playing the harlot.
21. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine unto me?