Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels? Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire? But my people have forgotten me for more days than can even be counted.

“These people have denied what the Lord says. They have said, ‘That is not so! No harm will come to us. We will not experience war and famine.

Their tongues are like deadly arrows. They are always telling lies. Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.

This is your fate, the destiny to which I have appointed you, because you have forgotten me and have trusted in false gods.

But if that nation does what displeases me and does not obey me, then I will cancel the good I promised to do to it.

“Make an announcement throughout Egypt. Proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes. ‘Take your positions and prepare to do battle. For the enemy army is destroying all the nations around you.’

The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’

I did this because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.

They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you.

You will drain it dry, gnaw its pieces, and tear out your breasts, for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.

To arouse anger, to take vengeance, I have placed her blood on an exposed rock so that it cannot be covered up.

The wise men replied to the king: [What follows is in Aramaic] “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will disclose its interpretation.”

But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we don’t serve your gods, and we will not pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected.”

The tree that you saw that grew large and strong, whose top reached to the sky, and which could be seen in all the land,

So all the king’s wise men came in, but they were unable to read the writing or to make known its interpretation to the king.

After entering into an alliance with him, he will behave treacherously; he will ascend to power with only a small force.

Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced, but he does not recognize it! His head is filled with gray hair, but he does not realize it!

They will not remain in the Lord’s land. Ephraim will return to Egypt; they will eat ritually unclean food in Assyria.

When I please, I will discipline them; I will gather nations together to attack them, to bind them in chains for their two sins.

But Ephraim bitterly provoked him to anger; so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed, his Lord will repay him for the contempt he has shown.