Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry. ¹ 

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.’

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations.

I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword ¹  and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Can wood be taken from it to make anything useful? Or can anyone make a peg from it to hang things on?

No! ¹  It is thrown in the fire for fuel; when the fire has burned up both ends of it and it is charred in the middle, will it be useful for anything?

Indeed! If it was not made into anything useful when it was whole, how much less can it be made into anything when the fire has burned it up and it is charred?

I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty.

Your fame ¹  spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. ² 

“‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ¹  became his.

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.

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.

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.

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

“‘How sick is your heart, declares the sovereign Lord, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute.

When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. ¹ 

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because your lust ¹  was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them,

before your evil was exposed? Now you have become an object of scorn to the daughters of Aram ¹  and all those around her and to the daughters of the Philistines – those all around you who despise you.