They have built places here<n id="1" /> for worship of the god Baal so that they could sacrifice their children as burnt offerings to him in the fire. Such sacrifices<n id="2" /> are something I never commanded them to make! They are something I never told them to do! Indeed, such a thing never even entered my mind!

<p class="poetry">Those who have been killed by the <sc>Lordsc> at that timep> <p class="poetry">will be scattered from one end of the earth to the other.p> <p class="poetry">They will not be mourned over, gathered up, or buried.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Their dead bodies will lie scattered over the ground like manure.p>

&#8220;Every seven years each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you for six years, you shall set them free.&#8221;<n id="1" /> But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention to me.

&#8216;If you will just stay<n id="1" /> in this land, I will build you up. I will not tear you down. I will firmly plant you.<n id="2" /> I will not uproot you. For I am filled with sorrow because of the disaster that I have brought on you.

<p class="poetry">They say to a wooden idol,<n id="1" /> &#8216;You are my father.&#8217;p> <p class="poetry">They say to a stone image, &#8216;You gave birth to me.&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Yes, they have turned away from me instead of turning to me.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">Yet when they are in trouble, they say, &#8216;Come and save us!&#8217;p>

<p class="poetry">Moreover, you will come away from Egyptp> <p class="poetry">with your hands covering your faces in sorrow and shame<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because the <sc>Lordsc> will not allow your reliance on them to be successfulp> <p class="poetry">and you will not gain any help from them.<n id="2" />p>

Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me.<n id="1" /> But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did.<n id="2" />

<p class="poetry">&#8220;If you, Israel, want to come back,&#8221; says the <sc>Lord,sc>p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;if you want to come back to me<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">you must get those disgusting idols<n id="2" /> out of my sightp> <p class="poetry">and must no longer go astray.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> answered,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;This will happen<n id="2" /> because my people are foolish.p> <p class="poetry">They do not know me.p> <p class="poetry">They are like children who have no sense.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They have no understanding.p> <p class="poetry">They are skilled at doing evil.p> <p class="poetry">They do not know how to do good.&#8221;p>

<p class="poetry"><sc>Lordsc>, I know you look for faithfulness.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">But even when you punish these people, they feel no remorse.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">Even when you nearly destroy them, they refuse to be corrected.p> <p class="poetry">They have become as hardheaded as a rock.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">They refuse to change their ways.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">&#8220;These people have denied what the <sc>Lordsc> says.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">They have said, &#8216;That is not so!<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">No harm will come to us.p> <p class="poetry">We will not experience war and famine.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="poetry">They do not say to themselves,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Let us revere the <sc>Lordsc> our God.p> <p class="poetry">It is he who gives us the autumn rains and the spring rains at the proper time.p> <p class="poetry">It is he who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

Consider this:<n id="1" /> When I spoke to your ancestors after I brought them out of Egypt, I did not merely give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices.

So tell them: &#8216;This is a nation that has not obeyed the <sc>Lordsc> their God and has not accepted correction. Faithfulness is nowhere to be found in it. These people do not even profess it anymore.<n id="1" />

<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="poetry">All these idolaters<n id="1" /> will prove to be stupid and ignorant.p> <p class="poetry">Every goldsmith will be disgraced by the idol he made.p> <p class="poetry">For the image he forges is merely a sham.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">There is no breath in any of those idols.<n id="3" />p>

So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, say this:<n id="1" /> &#8216;I will soon bring disaster on them which they will not be able to escape! When they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them.

<p class="bodytext">Then the <sc>Lordsc> told me about<n id="1" /> some men from Anathoth<n id="2" /> who were threatening to kill me.<n id="3" /> They had threatened,<n id="4" /> &#8220;Stop prophesying in the name of the <sc>Lordsc> or we will kill you!&#8221;<n id="5" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">I said,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Oh, mother, how I regret<n id="2" /> that you ever gave birth to me!p> <p class="poetry">I am always starting arguments and quarrels with the people of this land.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">I have not lent money to anyone and I have not borrowed from anyone.p> <p class="poetry">Yet all of these people are treating me with contempt.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">I will make you as strong as a wall to these people,p> <p class="poetry">a fortified wall of bronze.p> <p class="poetry">They will attack you,p> <p class="poetry">but they will not be able to overcome you.p> <p class="poetry">For I will be with you to rescue you and deliver you,&#8221;<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>