16. Their hearts followed after their idols so closely that they did not live by my statutes, but rejected my ordinances and desecrated my sabbaths.
17. But I looked on them with pity, not wanting to destroy them, so I did not put an end to them in the wilderness.
18. Then I said to their children in the wilderness: Do not follow the statutes of your parents. Do not keep their ordinances. Do not defile yourselves with their idols.
19. I am the Lord, your God: follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances;
20. keep holy my sabbaths as a sign between me and you so that you may know that I am the Lord, your God.
21. But their children rebelled against me: they did not follow my statutes or keep my ordinances that bring life to those who observe them; my sabbaths they desecrated. Then I considered pouring out my fury on them, spending my anger against them in the wilderness;
22. but I stayed my hand, acting for the sake of my name, lest it be desecrated in the eyes of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
23. Nevertheless I swore to them in the wilderness that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter them in other lands,
24. because they did not carry out my ordinances, but rejected my statutes and desecrated my sabbaths, having eyes only for the idols of their ancestors.