11. Then say to them, ‘It’s because your ancestors abandoned me, declares the Lord. They followed other gods, served them, worshiped them, and abandoned me. They didn’t obey my teachings.
12. You have done worse than your ancestors. All of you are following your own stubborn, evil ways that keep you from obeying me.
13. So I will throw you out of this land into a land that you and your ancestors haven’t heard of. There you will serve other gods day and night because I will no longer have pity on you.’
14. “That is why the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when people will no longer begin an oath with, ‘The Lord brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. As the Lord lives. . . .’
15. But they will say, ‘The Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of the north and all the lands where he had scattered them. As the Lord lives. . . .’ They will say this because I will bring them back to the land that I gave their ancestors.
16. “I’m going to send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch the people of Israel. After that, I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt for them on every mountain and hill and even in the cracks in the rocks.
17. I see everything that they do. They can’t hide anything from me. Their wickedness can’t be hidden; I can see it.
18. First, I will have them pay twice as much for their wickedness and their sin, because they have polluted my land. They have filled my property with the lifeless statues of their detestable and disgusting idols.”
19. The Lord is my strength and my fortress,my refuge in times of trouble.Nations come to you from the most distant parts of the worldand say, “Our ancestors have inherited lies,worthless and unprofitable gods.”
20. “People can’t make gods for themselves.They aren’t really gods.
21. That is what I will teach them.This time I will make my power and my strength known to them.Then they will know that my name is the Lord.”