17. Have you not brought this on yourself,In that you have forsaken the Lord your GodWhen He led you in the way?
18. And now why take the road to Egypt,To drink the waters of Sihor?Or why take the road to Assyria,To drink the waters of the River?
19. Your own wickedness will correct you,And your backslidings will rebuke you.Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thingThat you have forsaken the Lord your God,And the fear of Me is not in you,”Says the Lord God of hosts.
20. “For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds;And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’When on every high hill and under every green treeYou lay down, playing the harlot.
21. Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.How then have you turned before MeInto the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
22. For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap,Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lord God.
23. “How can you say, ‘I am not polluted,I have not gone after the Baals’?See your way in the valley;Know what you have done:You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,
24. A wild donkey used to the wilderness,That sniffs at the wind in her desire;In her time of mating, who can turn her away?All those who seek her will not weary themselves;In her month they will find her.
25. Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst.But you said, ‘There is no hope.No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.’
26. “As the thief is ashamed when he is found out,So is the house of Israel ashamed;They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets,
27. Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’And to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face.But in the time of their troubleThey will say, ‘Arise and save us.’
28. But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves?Let them arise,If they can save you in the time of your trouble;For according to the number of your citiesAre your gods, O Judah.
29. “Why will you plead with Me?You all have transgressed against Me,” says the Lord.