3. Israel was holy to Yahweh, the first fruit of his produce. All those who ate it were held guilty; disaster came to them,” declares Yahweh.’ ”
4. Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel.
5. Thus says Yahweh: “What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain?
6. And they did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh, the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt, the one who led us in the desert, in a land of desert plains and gorges, in a land of dryness and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, and no human lives there?’
7. And I brought you to the land of the orchard, to eat its fruit, and its good things. But you entered and defiled my land, and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.
8. The priests did not say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law did not know me, and the shepherds have rebelled against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and they went after things which do not profit.
9. Therefore I again bring a lawsuit against you,” declares Yahweh, “and with your children I bring a lawsuit.
10. For go over to the coasts of Cyprus and look, and send to Kedar and consider very closely, and see if there has been a thing like this:
11. Has a nation exchanged gods? And they are not gods! But my people have exchanged their glory for that which does not profit.
12. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, and shudder; be utterly desolate,” declares Yahweh.
13. “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the source of living water, to hew out for themselves cisterns, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
14. Is Israel a slave? Or a slave born in a house? Why has he become plunder?
15. The young lions have roared against him, they have raised their voices. And they have made his land as horror; his cities are destroyed, without an inhabitant.
16. Moreover, people of Memphis and Tahpanhes will shave your skull.
17. Did you not do this to yourself, by forsaking Yahweh, your God, at the time of your leading in the way?
18. And now why do you go the way of Egypt to drink the waters of the Shihor? And why do you go the way of Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19. Your wickedness will chastise you, and your apostasies will reprove you. Therefore know and see that it is evil and bitter, your forsaking of Yahweh, your God, and fear of me is not in you,” declares the Lord, Yahweh of hosts.