1-2. “If you want to come back, O Israel,you must really come back to me.You must get rid of your stinking sin paraphernaliaand not wander away from me anymore.Then you can say words like, ‘As God lives . . .’and have them mean something true and just and right.And the godless nations will get caught up in the blessingand find something in Israel to write home about.”
9. “When this happens”—God’s Decree—“King and princes will lose heart;priests will be baffled and prophets stand dumbfounded.”
10. Then I said, “Alas, Master God!You’ve fed lies to this people, this Jerusalem.You assured them, ‘All is well, don’t worry,’at the very moment when the sword was at their throats.”