1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2 “Go and announce directly to Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: I remember the loyalty of your youth, your love as a bride — how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the •firstfruits of His harvest. All who ate of it found themselves •guilty; disaster came on them.” This is the LORD’s declaration.
4 Hear the word of the LORD , house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel.
5 This is what the LORD says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
6 They stopped asking , “Where is the LORD who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived? ”
7 I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable.
8 The priests quit asking , “Where is the LORD? ” The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the rulers rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by •Baal and followed useless idols.
9 Therefore , I will bring a case against you again. This is the LORD’s declaration. I will bring a case against your children’s children.
10 Cross over to Cyprus and take a look. Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this:
11 Has a nation ever exchanged its gods ? (But they were not gods! ) Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols.
12 Be horrified at this , heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled. This is the LORD’s declaration.
13 For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.
