“I remember the devotion of your ^ayouth,

your love ^bas a bride,

how you followed me in the wilderness,

in a land not sown.

3  Israel was ^choly to the Lord,

the firstfruits of his harvest.

^dAll who ate of it incurred guilt;

disaster came upon them,

declares the Lord.”

^e“What wrong did your fathers find in me

that they went far from me,

and ^fwent after ^gworthlessness, and became worthless?

6  They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord

who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

who led us in the ^hwilderness,

in a land of deserts and pits,

in a land of drought and deep darkness,

in a land that none passes through,

where no man dwells?’

7  And I brought you into a plentiful land

to enjoy its fruits and its good things.

But when you came in, you ⁱdefiled my land

and made my heritage an abomination.

8  The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’

Those who handle the law did not ^jknow me;

the ^kshepherds¹ transgressed against me;

the prophets ^lprophesied by Baal

and went after ^mthings that do not profit.

9  “Therefore I still contend with you,

declares the Lord,

and with your children’s children I will contend.

10  For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,

or send to Kedar and examine with care;

see if there has been such a thing.

11  Has a nation changed its gods,

even though they are ⁿno gods?

But my people have ^ochanged their glory

for that which does not profit.

12  Be appalled, ^pO heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the Lord,

13  for my people have committed two evils:

they have ^qforsaken me,

the ^rfountain of living waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.

14  “Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?

Why then has he become a prey?

15  ^sThe lions have roared against him;

they have roared loudly.

They have made his land a ^twaste;

his cities are in ruins, ^uwithout inhabitant.

16  Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes

have shaved² the crown of your head.

17  Have you not ^vbrought this upon yourself

by forsaking the Lord your God,

when he led you in the way?

18  ^wAnd now what do you gain by going to Egypt

to drink the waters of the Nile?³

Or what do you gain by going to Assyria

to drink the waters of the Euphrates?⁴

19  Your evil will chastise you,

and your apostasy will reprove you.

Know and see that it is evil and ^xbitter

for you to forsake the Lord your God;

the fear of me is not in you,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

20  “For long ago I ^ybroke your yoke

and burst your bonds;

but you said, ‘I will not serve.’

Yes, ^zon every high hill

and under every green tree

you bowed down ^alike a whore.

21  Yet I ^bplanted you a choice ^cvine,

wholly of pure seed.

How then have you turned degenerate

and become a ^dwild vine?

22  Though you wash yourself ^ewith lye

and use much soap,

the stain of your guilt is still before me,

declares the Lord God.

23  How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,

I have not gone after the Baals’?

Look at your way in the valley;

know what you have done—

a restless young camel running here and there,

24  a wild donkey used to the wilderness,

in her heat sniffing the wind!

Who can restrain her lust?

None who seek her need weary themselves;

in her month they will find her.

25  Keep your ^ffeet from going unshod

and your throat from ^gthirst.

But you said, ‘It is hopeless,

for I have loved ^hforeigners,

and after them I will go.’

26  “As a thief is shamed when caught,

so the house of Israel shall be shamed:

they, their ⁱkings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets,

27  who say to a ^jtree, ‘You are my father,’

and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

For they have ^kturned their back to me,

and not their face.

But in the time of their trouble they say,

‘Arise and save us!’

28  But ^lwhere are your gods

that you made for yourself?

^mLet them arise, if they can save you,

in your time of trouble;

for ⁿas many as your cities

are your gods, O Judah.

29  “Why do you contend with me?

You have all transgressed against me,

declares the Lord.

30  In vain have I struck your children;

they took no ^ocorrection;

your own sword devoured your ^pprophets

like a ravening lion.

31  And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.

Have I been a wilderness to Israel,

or a land of thick darkness?

Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,

we will come no more to you’?

32  Can a virgin forget her ornaments,

or a bride her attire?

Yet my people have ^qforgotten me

days without number.

33  “How well you direct your course

to seek love!

So that even to wicked women

you have taught your ways.

34  Also on your skirts is found

the ^rlifeblood of the guiltless poor;

^syou did not find them breaking in.

Yet in spite of all these things

35  you say, ‘I am innocent;

surely his anger has turned from me.’

Behold, I will bring you to judgment

for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’

36  How much you go about,

changing your way!

You shall be put to shame ^tby Egypt

as you were put to shame ^uby Assyria.

37  From it too you will come away

^vwith your hands on your head,

for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,

and you will not prosper by them.

1  “If⁵ a man divorces his wife

and she goes from him

and becomes another man’s wife,

will he return to her?

^wWould not that land be greatly polluted?

You have played the whore with many ^xlovers;

and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.

2  Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see!

Where have you not been ravished?

By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers

like an Arab in the wilderness.

You have polluted the land

with your vile whoredom.

3  Therefore the showers have been withheld,

and the ^yspring rain has not come;

yet you have the forehead of a whore;

^zyou refuse to be ashamed.

4  Have you not just now called to me,

‘My ^afather, you are the ^bfriend of my youth—

5  will he be angry forever,

will he be indignant to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken,

but you have done all the evil that you could.”

“‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.

I will not look on you in anger,

for I am merciful,

declares the Lord;

^jI will not be angry forever.

13  Only acknowledge your guilt,

that you rebelled against the Lord your God

and scattered your favors among ^kforeigners under every green tree,

and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

14  Return, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;

for I am your master;

I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,

and I will bring you to Zion.

19  “‘I said,

How I would set you among my sons,

and give you a pleasant land,

a heritage most ^tbeautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would call me, My Father,

and would not turn from following me.

20  Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,

so have you been ^utreacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’”

21  A voice on the bare heights is heard,

the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons

because they have perverted their way;

they have ^vforgotten the Lord their God.

22  “Return, O faithless sons;

I will ^wheal your faithlessness.”

“Behold, we come to you,

for you are the Lord our God.

23  Truly the hills are a delusion,

the orgies⁶ on the mountains.

Truly in the Lord our God

is the salvation of Israel.

1  ⁿBless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, ^oyou are very great!

You are ^pclothed with splendor and majesty,

2  ^qcovering yourself with light as with a garment,

^rstretching out the heavens like a tent.

3  He lays the beams of his ^schambers on the waters;

he makes the clouds his chariot;

he rides on the wings of the wind;

4  ^the makes his messengers winds,

his ministers a flaming fire.

5  He set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

6  You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood ^uabove the mountains.

7  At your rebuke they fled;

at the ^vsound of your thunder they took to flight.

8  ^wThe mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you appointed for them.

9  You ^xset a boundary that they may not pass,

^yso that they might not again cover the earth.

10  You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

11  they ^zgive drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12  Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

13  From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14  You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

and ^aplants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth

15  and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man’s heart.

16  The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17  In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18  The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.

19  He made the moon ^bto mark the seasons;¹

the sun knows its time for setting.

20  You make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21  The young lions roar for their prey,

^cseeking their food from God.

22  When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their dens.

23  Man goes out to his work

and to his ^dlabor until the evening.

24  O Lord, how manifold are your works!

^eIn wisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25  Here is the sea, great and wide,

which teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and ^fgreat.

26  There go the ships,

and ^gLeviathan, which you formed to play in it.²

27  ^hThese all look to you,

to give them their food in due season.

28  When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you ⁱopen your hand, they are ^jfilled with good things.

29  When you ^khide your face, they are dismayed;

when you ^ltake away their breath, they die

and ^mreturn to their dust.

30  When you send forth your Spirit,³ they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

31  May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord ⁿrejoice in his works,

32  who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who ^otouches the mountains and they smoke!

33  I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

^pI will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34  ^qMay my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

35  Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

^rBless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!