1. ‘Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,inscribed with a flint point,on the tablets of their heartsand on the horns of their altars.
2. Even their children remembertheir altars and Asherah polesbeside the spreading treesand on the high hills.
3. My mountain in the landand your wealth and all your treasuresI will give away as plunder,together with your high places,because of sin throughout your country.
4. Through your own fault you will losethe inheritance I gave you.I will enslave you to your enemiesin a land you do not know,for you have kindled my anger,and it will burn for ever.’
5. This is what the Lord says:‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man,who draws strength from mere fleshand whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;they will not see prosperity when it comes.They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,in a salt land where no one lives.
7. ‘But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,whose confidence is in him.