<p class="poetry">Can people make their own gods?p> <p class="poetry">No, what they make are not gods at all.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

<p class="poetry">Has a nation ever changed its godsp> <p class="poetry">(even though they are not really gods at all)?p> <p class="poetry">But my people have exchanged me, their glorious God,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">for a god that cannot help them at all!<n id="2" />p>

<p class="poetry">The <sc>Lordsc> is the only true God.p> <p class="poetry">He is the living God and the everlasting King.p> <p class="poetry">When he shows his anger the earth shakes.p> <p class="poetry">None of the nations can stand up to his fury.p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> asked,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem?<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Your people<n id="3" /> have rejected mep> <p class="poetry">and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all.<n id="4" />p> <p class="poetry">Even though I supplied all their needs,<n id="5" /> they were like an unfaithful wife to me.<n id="6" />p> <p class="poetry">They went flocking<n id="7" /> to the houses of prostitutes.<n id="8" />p>

Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands.<n id="1" /> Stop killing innocent people<n id="2" /> in this land. Stop paying allegiance to<n id="3" /> other gods. That will only bring about your ruin.<n id="4" />

You steal.<n id="1" /> You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to<n id="2" /> other gods whom you have not previously known.

You must no longer say that the <sc>Lordsc>&#8217;s message is burdensome.<n id="1" /> For what is &#8216;burdensome&#8217;<n id="2" /> really pertains to what a person himself says.<n id="3" /> You are misrepresenting<n id="4" /> the words of our God, the living God, the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.<n id="5" />

Do not pay allegiance to<n id="1" /> other gods and worship and serve them. Do not make me angry by the things that you do.<n id="2" /> Then I will not cause you any harm.&#8217;

They have gone back to the evil ways<n id="1" /> of their ancestors of old who refused to obey what I told them. They, too, have paid allegiance to<n id="2" /> other gods and worshiped them. Both the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah<n id="3" /> have violated the covenant I made with their ancestors.

These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said.<n id="1" /> They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance<n id="2" /> to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So<n id="3" /> they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing.

Then tell them that the <sc>Lordsc> says,<n id="1" /> &#8216;It is because your ancestors<n id="2" /> rejected me and paid allegiance to<n id="3" /> other gods. They have served them and worshiped them. But they have rejected me and not obeyed my law.<n id="4" />

So I will throw you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your ancestors have ever known. There you must worship other gods day and night, for I will show you no mercy.&#8217;&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">I will destroy Babylonia just like I didp> <p class="poetry">Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns.p> <p class="poetry">No one will live there.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">No human being will settle in it,&#8221;p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" />p>

I sent all my servants the prophets to warn you over and over again. They said, &#8220;Every one of you, stop doing the evil things you have been doing and do what is right.<n id="1" /> Do not pay allegiance to other gods<n id="2" /> and worship them. Then you can continue to live in this land that I gave to you and your ancestors.&#8221; But you did not pay any attention or listen to me.