They have been unfaithful to the LORD; their children do not belong to him. So now they and their lands will soon be destroyed.

"When Israel saw how sick she was and when Judah saw her own wounds, then Israel went to Assyria to ask the great emperor for help, but he could not cure them or heal their wounds.

The people of Israel will not remain in the LORD's land, but will have to go back to Egypt and will have to eat forbidden food in Assyria.

After all this had been done, some of the leaders of the people of Israel came and told me that the people, the priests, and the Levites had not kept themselves separate from the people in the neighboring countries of Ammon, Moab, and Egypt or from the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Amorites. They were doing the same disgusting things which these people did.

They told us that we were never to intermarry with those people and never to help them prosper or succeed if we wanted to enjoy the land and pass it on to our descendants forever.

At that time I also discovered that many of the Jewish men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.

I reprimanded the men, called down curses on them, beat them, and pulled out their hair. Then I made them take an oath in God's name that never again would they or their children intermarry with foreigners.

but they intermarried with them and adopted their pagan ways.

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.

The people of Judah have broken their promise to God and done a horrible thing in Jerusalem and all over the country. They have defiled the Temple which the LORD loves. Men have married women who worship foreign gods.

Even though they call me their God and claim that they are my people and that they know me,

"My people chose kings, but they did it on their own. They appointed leaders, but without my approval. They took their silver and gold and made idols---for their own destruction.

Elijah went up to the people and said, "How much longer will it take you to make up your minds? If the LORD is God, worship him; but if Baal is God, worship him!" But the people didn't say a word.

I will destroy anyone who goes up on the roof and worships the sun, the moon, and the stars. I will also destroy those who worship me and swear loyalty to me, but then take oaths in the name of the god Molech.

"You cannot be a slave of two masters; you will hate one and love the other; you will be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other!

But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth!