18. And now what do you gain by going to Egyptto drink the waters of the Nile? Or what do you gain by going to Assyriato drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19. Your evil will chastise you,and your apostasy will reprove you.Know and see that it is evil and bitterfor you to forsake the Lord your God;the fear of me is not in you,declares the Lord God of hosts.
20. “For long ago I broke your yokeand burst your bonds;but you said, ‘I will not serve.’Yes, on every high hilland under every green treeyou bowed down like a whore.
21. Yet I planted you a choice vine,wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerateand become a wild vine?
22. Though you wash yourself with lyeand use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me,declares the Lord God.
23. How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,I have not gone after the Baals’?Look at your way in the valley;know what you have done—a restless young camel running here and there,
24. a wild donkey used to the wilderness,in her heat sniffing the wind!Who can restrain her lust?None who seek her need weary themselves;in her month they will find her.
25. Keep your feet from going unshodand your throat from thirst.But you said, ‘It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners,and after them I will go.’
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,
27. who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’For they have turned their back to me,and not their face.But in the time of their trouble they say,‘Arise and save us!’