14. Is Israel a bondman? Is he a home-born slave? Why is he become a spoil?
15. The young lions roared against him, they gave forth their voice, and they made his land desolate: his cities are burned, without inhabitant.
16. Even the children of Noph and Tahapanes have fed on the crown of thy head.
17. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God at the time he was leading thee in the way?
18. And now, what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? And what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
19. Thine own wickedness chastiseth thee, and thy backslidings reprove thee: know then and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken Jehovah thy God and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
20. For of old thou hast broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not serve. For upon every high hill, and under every green tree, thou bowest down, playing the harlot.
21. And I, --I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate shoots of a strange vine unto me?
22. For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much potash, thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord Jehovah.