They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. ¹  Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.”

Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ¹  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ²  were about twenty-five ³  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ⁴  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ⁵  toward the east!

“‘When the people of the land come before the Lord at the appointed feasts, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship will go out by way of the south gate; whoever enters by way of the south gate will go out by way of the north gate. No one will return by way of the gate they entered but will go out straight ahead.

The people of the land will bow down at the entrance of that gate before the Lord on the Sabbaths and on the new moons.

The prince will enter by way of the porch of the gate from the outside, and will stand by the doorpost of the gate. The priests will provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he will bow down at the threshold of the gate and then go out. But the gate will not be closed until evening.

oppresses the poor and the needy, ¹  commits robbery, does not give back what was given in pledge, prays to ²  idols, performs abominable acts,

He does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains, does not pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife,

“‘What you plan ¹  will never happen. You say, “We will be ²  like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” ³ 

does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains ¹  or pray to the idols ²  of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, does not have sexual relations with a ³  woman during her period,

“When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.

I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.’

You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them.

you built yourself a chamber ¹  and put up a pavilion ²  in every public square.

You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your sexually aroused neighbors, ¹  multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger.

(though the father did not do any of them). ¹  He eats pagan sacrifices on the mountains, ²  defiles his neighbor’s wife,

For there on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, all the house of Israel will serve me, all of them ¹  in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will seek your contributions and your choice gifts, with all your holy things.

You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution ¹  with them.

At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced ¹  your beauty when you spread ²  your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity.

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers ¹  and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?

Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), ¹  and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity),