1. The Lord told me
2. to proclaim this message to everyone in Jerusalem.“I remember how faithful you were when you were young,how you loved me when we were first married;you followed me through the desert,through a land that had not been sown.
3. Israel, you belonged to me alone;you were my sacred possession.I sent suffering and disasteron everyone who hurt you.I, the Lord, have spoken.”
4. Listen to the Lord's message, you descendants of Jacob, you tribes of Israel.
5. The Lord says:“What accusation did your ancestors bring against me?What made them turn away from me?They worshipped worthless idolsand became worthless themselves.
6. They did not care about me,even though I rescued them from Egyptand led them through the wilderness:a land of deserts and sand dunes,a dry and dangerous landwhere no one livesand no one will even travel.
7. I brought them into a fertile land,to enjoy its harvests and its other good things.But instead they ruined my land;they defiled the country I had given them.
8. The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?’My own priests did not know me.The rulers rebelled against me;the prophets spoke in the name of Baaland worshipped useless idols.
9. “And so I, the Lord, will state my case against my people again.I will bring charges against their descendants.