20. For long ago I have broken thy ol (yoke), and tore off thy bonds; and thou saidst, I will not serve; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou hast sprawled, playing the zonah.
21. Yet I had planted thee a choice vine, wholly a zera emes. How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a gefen nochriyah unto Me?
22. For though thou wash thee with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine avon (iniquity) is marked before Me, saith Adonoi Hashem.
23. How canst thou say, I am not tameh, I have not gone after Ba'alim? See thy derech in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift camel traversing her ways;
24. A pereh used to the midbar, that sniffs up the ruach in the craving of her nefesh; in her occasion [of heat] who can turn her away? All they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
25. Withhold thy regel from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst; but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved zarim, and after them will I go.
26. As the ganav is ashamed when he is caught, so is the Bais Yisroel ashamed; they, their melachim, their sarim, and their kohanim, and their nevi'im.
27. Saying to Etz (wood), Thou art Avi; and to Even (stone), Thou hast brought me forth; for they have turned their back unto Me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and hoshi'einu (save us).
28. But where are thy elohim that thou hast made for thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble; for as many as are the mispar (number) of thy towns are thy elohim, O Yehudah.