You are doomed, you sinful nation, you corrupt and evil people! Your sins drag you down! You have rejected the LORD, the holy God of Israel, and have turned your backs on him.

I said, "O God, I am too ashamed to raise my head in your presence. Our sins pile up higher than our heads; they reach as high as the heavens.

Look up at the hilltops. Is there any place where you have not acted like a prostitute? You waited for lovers along the roadside, as an Arab waits for victims in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution.

Surely the LORD looks for faithfulness. He struck you, but you paid no attention; he crushed you, but you refused to learn. You were stubborn and would not turn from your sins.

I will go to the people in power and talk with them. Surely they know what their God requires, what the LORD wants them to do." But all of them have rejected the LORD's authority and refuse to obey him.

The LORD asked, "Why should I forgive the sins of my people? They have abandoned me and have worshiped gods that are not real. I fed my people until they were full, but they committed adultery and spent their time with prostitutes.

Shouldn't I punish them for these things and take revenge on a nation such as this?

Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.

Just as a hunter fills a cage with birds, they have filled their houses with loot. That is why they are powerful and rich,

"But I, the LORD, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation.

"Look, you put your trust in deceitful words.

You do these things I hate, and then you come and stand in my presence, in my own Temple, and say, 'We are safe!'

But Jerusalem rebelled against my commands and showed that she was more wicked than the other nations, more disobedient than the countries around her. Jerusalem rejected my commands and refused to keep my laws.

"Everything is in confusion ---the land is full of murders and the cities are full of violence.

He said, "Mortal man, break through the wall here." I broke through it and found a door.

So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals, and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping.

God asked me, "Mortal man, do you see what the Israelite leaders are doing in secret? They are all worshiping in a room full of images. Their excuse is: 'The LORD doesn't see us! He has abandoned the country.' "

So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.

So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

"Samaria did not sin half as much as you have. You have acted more disgustingly than she ever did. Your corruption makes your sisters look innocent by comparison.

And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure."

"Mortal man," he said, "are you ready to judge the city that is full of murderers? Make clear to her all the disgusting things she has done.

You are guilty of those murders and are defiled by the idols you made, and so your day is coming, your time is up! That is why I have let the nations make fun of you and all the countries sneer at you.

All Israel's leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder.

You have no respect for the holy places, and you don't keep the Sabbath.

Some of them sleep with their father's wife. Some force women to have intercourse with them during their period.

Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to other Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

"Mortal man," he said, "tell the Israelites that their land is unholy, and so I am punishing it in my anger.

The priests break my law and have no respect for what is holy. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. They do not teach the difference between clean and unclean things, and they ignore the Sabbath. As a result the people of Israel do not respect me.

The prophets have hidden these sins like workers covering a wall with whitewash. They see false visions and make false predictions. They claim to speak the word of the Sovereign LORD, but I, the LORD, have not spoken to them.

I looked for someone who could build a wall, who could stand in the places where the walls have crumbled and defend the land when my anger is about to destroy it, but I could find no one.

"Mortal man," he said, "there were once two sisters.

The older one was named Oholah (she represents Samaria), and the younger one was named Oholibah (she represents Jerusalem). I married both of them, and they bore me children.

They were soldiers in uniforms of purple, noblemen and high-ranking officers; all of them were handsome young cavalry officers.

She continued what she had begun as a prostitute in Egypt, where she lost her virginity. From the time she was a young woman, men slept with her and treated her like a prostitute.

They stripped her naked, seized her sons and daughters, and then killed her with a sword. Women everywhere gossiped about her fate.

She too was full of lust for the Assyrian noblemen and officers---soldiers in bright uniforms---and for the cavalry officers, all of those handsome young men.

"She sank deeper and deeper in her immorality. She was attracted by the images of high Babylonian officials carved into the wall and painted bright red, with sashes around their waists and fancy turbans on their heads.

As soon as she saw them, she was filled with lust and sent messengers to them in Babylonia.

She exposed herself publicly and let everyone know she was a whore. I was as disgusted with her as I had been with her sister.

She was filled with lust for oversexed men who had all the lustfulness of donkeys or stallions."

"Now then, Oholibah, this is what I, the Sovereign LORD, am saying to you. You are tired of those lovers, but I will make them angry with you and bring them to surround you.

They will attack you from the north, bringing a large army with chariots and supply wagons. Protected by shields and helmets, they will surround you. I will hand you over to them, and they will judge you by their own laws.

They will tear off your clothes and take your jewels.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "I will hand you over to people you hate and are disgusted with.

have brought this on you. You were a prostitute for the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

The Sovereign LORD says, "You will drink from your sister's cup; it is large and deep. Everyone will scorn and mock you; the cup is full.

You will drink and drain it dry, and with its broken pieces tear your breast. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken."

The LORD said to me, "Mortal man, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholibah? Accuse them of the disgusting things they have done.

And that is not all they did. They profaned my Temple and broke the Sabbath, which I had established.

"Again and again they sent messengers to invite men to come from a great distance, and the men came. The two sisters would bathe and put on eye shadow and jewelry.

The sound of a carefree crowd could be heard, a group of men brought in from the desert. They put bracelets on the women's arms and beautiful crowns on their heads.

They went back to these prostitutes again and again. They went back to Oholah and Oholibah, those immoral women.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: "Bring a mob to terrorize them and rob them.

Throughout the land I will put a stop to immorality, as a warning to every woman not to commit adultery as they did.

This is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: "The city of murderers is doomed! It is like a corroded pot that is never cleaned. Piece after piece of meat is taken out, and not one is left.

I have left the blood there, where it cannot be hidden, where it demands angry revenge."

Bring more wood! Fan the flames! Cook the meat! Boil away the broth! Burn up the bones!

although all that corrosion will not disappear in the flames.

I, the LORD, have spoken. The time has come for me to act. I will not ignore your sins or show pity or be merciful. You will be punished for what you have done." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

They make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another.

Go on, then, and finish up what your ancestors started!

You snakes and children of snakes! How do you expect to escape from being condemned to hell?

who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us. How displeasing they are to God! How hostile they are to everyone!

They even tried to stop us from preaching to the Gentiles the message that would bring them salvation. In this way they have brought to completion all the sins they have always committed. And now God's anger has at last come down on them!

My people cry out to me, 'Even though our sins accuse us, help us, LORD, as you have promised. We have turned away from you many times; we have sinned against you.

The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. Their sins make them stumble and fall, and the people of Judah fall with them.

The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. In spite of everything that has happened, they have not returned to me, the LORD their God.

Now we know that everything in the Law applies to those who live under the Law, in order to stop all human excuses and bring the whole world under God's judgment.

For no one is put right in God's sight by doing what the Law requires; what the Law does is to make us know that we have sinned.

Even after everything that has happened to us in punishment for our sins and wrongs, we know that you, our God, have punished us less than we deserve and have allowed us to survive.

You have done right to punish us; you have been faithful, even though we have sinned.

"We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right.

You, Lord, always do what is right, but we have always brought disgrace on ourselves. This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you.