25. “And I also gave them up to laws that were not good, and right-rulings by which they would not live.
26. “And I defiled them by their own gifts, as they passed all their first-born through the fire, so that I might stun them, so that they know that I am יהוה.” ’
27. “Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Yisra’ĕl, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “In this your fathers have further reviled Me, by committing trespass against Me.
28. “When I brought them into the land for which I had lifted My hand in an oath to give them, and they saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, they offered their slaughterings there and provoked Me with their offerings there. And they sent up their sweet fragrance there and poured out their drink offerings there.
29. “And I said to them, ‘What is this high place to which you go?’ So its name is called High Place to this day.” ’
30. “Therefore say to the house of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “Are you defiling yourselves in the way of your fathers? And do you whore after their abominations?
31. “For when you lift up your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Yisra’ĕl? As I live,” declares the Master יהוה, “I am not being inquired of by you.
32. “And what comes up in your spirit shall never be, when you say, ‘Let us be like the gentiles, like the tribes in other lands, serving wood and stone.’
33. “As I live,” declares the Master יהוה, “do not I, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, reign over you?
34. “And I shall bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the lands where you are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out.
35. “And I shall bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and shall enter into judgment with you face to face there.
36. “As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Mitsrayim, so I shall enter into judgment with you,” declares the Master יהוה.
37. “And I shall make you pass under the rod, and shall bring you into the bond of the covenant,
38. and purge the rebels from among you, and those who transgress against Me. From the land where they sojourn I bring them out, but they shall not come into the land of Yisra’ĕl. And you shall know that I am יהוה.
39. “As for you, O house of Yisra’ĕl,” thus said the Master יהוה, “Go, serve each of you his idols, and afterwards, if you are not listening to Me. But do not profane My set-apart Name any more with your gifts and your idols.
40. “For on My set-apart mountain, on the mountain height of Yisra’ĕl,” declares the Master יהוה, “there all the house of Yisra’ĕl, all of them in the land, shall serve Me. There I shall accept them, and there I shall require your offerings and the first-fruits of your offerings, together with all your set-apart gifts.