They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients.<n id="1" />

(though the father did not do any of them).<n id="1" /> He eats pagan sacrifices on the mountains,<n id="2" /> defiles his neighbor&#8217;s wife,

I also gave them my Sabbaths<n id="1" /> as a reminder of our relationship,<n id="2" /> so that they would know that I, the <sc>Lord,sc> sanctify them.<n id="3" />

I also swore<n id="1" /> to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands.<n id="2" />

&#8220;Son of man, prophesy and say: &#8216;This is what the Lord says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;A sword, a sword is sharpened,p> <p class="poetry">and also polished.p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more?<n id="1" /> declares the sovereign <sc>Lordsc>.&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">I too will clap my hands together,p> <p class="poetry">I will exhaust my rage;p> <p class="poetry">I the <sc>Lordsc> have spoken.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry">A total ruin I will make it!<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">It will come to an endp> <p class="poetry">when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.&#8217;<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;Therefore this is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me,<n id="1" /> you must bear now the punishment<n id="2" /> for your obscene conduct and prostitution.&#8221;p>

For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me,<n id="1" /> they have passed through the fire as food to their idols.<n id="2" />

Recite a proverb to this rebellious house<n id="1" /> and say to them, &#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;&#8216;Set on the pot,<n id="2" /> set it on,p> <p class="poetry">pour water in it too;p>

Those who lived in its shade, its allies<n id="1" /> among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword.

He will also take their gods into captivity to Egypt, along with their cast images and prized utensils of silver and gold. Then he will withdraw for some years from<n id="1" /> the king of the north.

Then I told her, &#8220;You must live with me many days; you must not commit adultery or have sexual intercourse with<n id="1" /> another man, and I also will wait for you.&#8221;

<p class="poetry">Therefore the land will mourn,p> <p class="poetry">and all its inhabitants will perish.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">The wild animals,<n id="2" /> the birds of the sky,p> <p class="poetry">and even the fish in the sea will perish.p>

<p class="poetry">You have destroyed<n id="1" /> my peoplep> <p class="poetry">by failing to acknowledge me!p> <p class="poetry">Because you refuse to acknowledge me,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">I will reject you as my priests.p> <p class="poetry">Because you reject<n id="3" /> the law of your God,p> <p class="poetry">I will reject<n id="4" /> your descendants.p>

<p class="poetry">Foreigners are consuming what his strenuous labor produced,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">but he does not recognize it!p> <p class="poetry">His head is filled with gray hair,p> <p class="poetry">but he does not realize it!p>

<p class="poetry">Even if they raise their children,p> <p class="poetry">I will take away every last one of them.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Woe to them!p> <p class="poetry">For I will turn away from them.p>

<p class="poetry">Ephraim will be struck down<n id="1" /> &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">their root will be dried up;p> <p class="poetry">they will not yield any fruit.p> <p class="poetry">Even if they do bear children,p> <p class="poetry">I will kill their precious offspring.p>

<p class="poetry">Even the calf idol<n id="1" /> will be carried to Assyria,p> <p class="poetry">as tribute for the great king.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Ephraim will be disgraced;p> <p class="poetry">Israel will be put to shame because<n id="3" /> of its wooden idol.<n id="4" />p>