6. They didn’t say, ‘Where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,who led us through the wilderness,through a land of deserts and of pits,through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,through a land that no one passed through,and where no man lived?’
7. I brought you into a plentiful land,to eat its fruit and its goodness;but when you entered, you defiled my land,and made my heritage an abomination.
8. The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is the Lord?’and those who handle the law didn’t know me.The rulers also transgressed against me,and the prophets prophesied by Baal,and followed things that do not profit.
9. “Therefore I will yet contend with you,” says the Lord,“and I will contend with your children’s children.
10. For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see;and send to Kedar, and consider diligently;and see if there has been such a thing.
11. Has a nation changed its gods,which really are no gods?But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
12. “Be astonished, you heavens, at this,and be horribly afraid.Be very desolate,” says the Lord.
13. “For my people have committed two evils:they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters,and cut them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
14. Is Israel a slave?Is he born into slavery?Why has he become a captive?
15. The young lions have roared at him, and yelled.They have made his land waste.His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
16. The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
17. “Haven’t you brought this on yourself,in that you have forsaken the Lord your God, when he led you by the way?
18. Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor?Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
19. “Your own wickedness will correct you,and your backsliding will rebuke you.Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,that you have forsaken the Lord your God,and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.
20. “For long ago I broke off your yoke,and burst your bonds.You said, ‘I will not serve;’for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself,playing the prostitute.