Therefore hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, Have I been a wilderness or a dry land to Israel? Why have My people said, We will not be ruled over, and will not come to You anymore?

Thus says the Lord, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths of the Lord; and see what is the good way and walk in it, and you shall find purification for your souls. But they said, We will not walk [in them].

And I sent to you My servants the prophets, saying, Turn, everyone from his evil way, and amend your practices, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell upon the land which I gave to you and to your fathers. But you have not inclined your ears, and you would not listen.

And the king sent Jehudi to fetch the scroll. And he took it out of the house of Elishama, and Jehudi read [the scroll] in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood round the king.

And it came to pass when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut them off with a penknife, and cast [them] into the fire that was on the hearth, until the whole scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.

But Elnathan and Gemariah suggested to the king that he should burn the scroll.

And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they hearkened not.

Nevertheless they sneered at His messengers, and despised His words, and mocked His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose up against His people, till there was no remedy.

And He brought the king of the Chaldeans against them, and killed their young men with the sword in the house of His sanctuary, and did not spare Zedekiah, and had no mercy upon their virgins, and they led away their old men; He delivered all things into their hands.

lest I be filled and become false, and say, Who sees me? Or be poor and steal, and swear vainly by the name of God.

We have lain down in our shame, and our disgrace has covered us. Because we and our fathers have sinned before our God, from our youth until this day; and we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God.

For I spoke not to your fathers, and commanded them not in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, concerning whole burnt offerings and sacrifice;

But they hearkened not to Me, and their ear gave no heed, but they walked in the imaginations of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.

but they hearkened not to Me, and their ear gave no heed; and they made their neck harder than their fathers.

This is the nation that has not heeded the voice of the Lord, nor received correction: truth has failed from their mouth.

For the children of Israel and the children of Judah alone did evil in My sight from their youth.

Remember, forget not, how much you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness; from the day that you came forth out of Egypt, even till you came into this place, you continued to be disobedient toward the Lord.

You were disobedient in the things relating to the Lord from the day in which He became known to you.

For I know your provocation, and your stiff neck; for yet during my life with you at this day, you have been provoking in your conduct toward God: how shall you not also be so after my death?

So Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved one kicked; he grew fat, he became thick and broad: then he forsook the God that made him, and departed from God his Savior.

They sacrificed to demons, and not to God; to gods whom they knew not: new and fresh [gods] came in, whom their fathers knew not.

And the Lord saw, and was jealous; and was provoked by the anger of His sons and daughters,

And the children of Israel did evil before the Lord, and served Baalam.

And they provoked the Lord, and forsook Him, and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

among whomsoever they went; and the hand of the Lord was against them for evil, as the Lord spoke, and as the Lord swore to them; and He greatly afflicted them.

for they went whoring after other gods, and worshipped them; and they turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers walked to hearken to the words of the Lord; they did not do so.

And it came to pass when the judge died, that they went back, and again corrupted [themselves] worse than their fathers to go after other gods, to serve them and to worship them: they did not abandon their own doings, nor their stubborn ways.

But they and our fathers behaved proudly, and hardened their neck, and did not hearken to Your commandments,

And still farther they even made for themselves a molded calf, and said, These [are] the gods that brought us up out of Egypt: and they worked great provocations.

And You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, and You did not withhold Your manna from their mouth, and gave them water in their thirst.

Moreover, You gave them kingdoms, and divided nations to them; and they inherited the land of Sihon, king of Hesbron, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

And they inherited it; and You destroyed from before them the inhabitants in the land of the Canaanites, and You gave into their hands them and their kings, and the nations of the land, to do unto them as it pleased them.

But they turned, and revolted from You, and cast Your law behind their backs; and they killed Your prophets, who testified against them to turn them back to You, and they worked great provocations.

But when they rested, they did evil again before You, so You left them in the hands of their enemies, and they ruled over them; and they cried again to You, and You heard from heaven, and delivered them in Your great mercy.

Yet You had patience with them for many years, and testified to them by Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets: but they hearkened not; so You gave them into the hand of the nations of the land.

And now, O our God, the powerful, the great, the mighty, and the terrible, keeping Your covenant and Your mercy, let not all this trouble seem little in Your sight which has come upon us, and our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our prophets, and our fathers, and upon all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria even to this day.

And our kings, and our princes, and our priests, and our fathers, have not performed Your law, and have not given heed to Your commandments, and [have not kept] Your testimonies which You testified to them.

Behold, we are servants this day, and [as for] the land which You gave to our fathers, to eat the fruit of it and the good things of it, behold, we are servants upon it;

We have sinned with our fathers, we have transgressed, we have done unrighteously.

Yet He saved them for His name's sake, that He might cause His mighty power to be known.

And He saved them out of the hand of them that hated [them], and redeemed them out of the hand of the enemy.

Then they believed His words, and celebrated His praise.

And they lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the dry [land].

They provoked Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the holy one of the Lord.

And a fire was kindled in their congregation, and a flame burned up the sinners.

and they changed their glory into the likeness of a calf that feeds on grass.

wondrous [works] in the land of Ham, and awesome things at the Red Sea.

Moreover they despised the desirable land, and did not believe His word.

So He lifted up His hand against them, to cast them down in the wilderness;

They were joined also to Baal of Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. And they provoked Him with their deeds;

Then Phinehas stood up and made atonement, and the plague ceased.

They provoked Him also at the Water of Strife, and Moses was hurt for their sakes;

They destroyed not the nations which the Lord told them [to destroy];

And they served their graven images; and it became an offense to them.

and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was defiled with blood,

So the Lord was very angry with His people, and He abhorred His inheritance.

Ands their enemies oppressed them, and they were brought down under their hands.

You the Lord looked upon their affliction, when You heard their petition.

And He caused them to be pitied in the sight of all who carried them captive.

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting; and all the people shall say, Amen, Amen.

You have neither known, nor understood, neither from the beginning have I opened your ears; for I knew that you would surely deal treacherously, and would be called a transgressor even from the womb.

But they revolted against Me, and would not hearken to Me: they cast not away the abominations of their eyes, and forsook not the devices of Egypt. Then I said that I would pour out My wrath upon them, to accomplish My wrath upon them in the midst of Egypt.

And I said to the house of Israel in the wilderness, Walk in My commandments: but they walked not [in them], and they rejected My ordinances, which [if] a man shall do, he shall even live in them; and they grievously profaned My Sabbaths. And I said that I would pour out My wrath upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

But they provoked Me, and their children walked not in My commandments, and they took no heed to My ordinances to do them, which [if] a man shall do, he shall even live in them, and they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said that I would pour out My wrath upon them in the wilderness, to accomplish My anger upon them.

Whereas I brought them into the land concerning which I lifted up My hand to give it to them; and they looked upon every high hill, and every shady tree, and they sacrificed there to their gods, and offered there sweet-smelling savors, and there they poured out their drink offerings.

and they went a-whoring in Egypt in their youth. There their breasts fell, there they lost their virginity.

And Oholah went a-whoring from Me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that were her neighbors,

And she bestowed her fornication upon them; all were choice sons of the Assyrians: and on whomsoever she doted herself, with them she defiled herself in all [their] devices.

Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the children of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.

And her sister Oholibah saw [it], and she indulged in her fondness more corruptly than she, and in her fornication more than the fornication of her sister.

And I saw that they were defiled, [that] the two [had] one way.

having variegated belts on their loins, having also richly dyed [turbans] upon their heads; all had a princely appearance, the likeness of the children of the Chaldeans, of their native land.

And the sons of Babylon came to her, into the bed of rest, and they defiled her in her fornication, and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them.

And you multiplied your fornication, so as to call to remembrance the days of your youth, in which you committed harlotry in Egypt,

And you looked upon the iniquity of your youth, [the things] which you did in Egypt in your lodgings, where were the breasts of your youth.

the children of Babylon, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the sons of the Assyrians with them; choice young men, governors and captains, all princes and renowned, riding on horses.

And I will bring upon you My jealousy, and they shall deal with you in great wrath. They shall take away your nose and your ears, and shall cast down your remnant with the sword. They shall take your sons and your daughters, and fire shall devour your remnant.

So I will turn back your ungodliness from you, and your fornication from the land of Egypt; and you shall not lift up your eyes upon them, and shall no more remember Egypt.

And they shall deal with you in hatred, and shall take all [the fruits] of your labors and your toils, and you shall be naked and bare; and the shame of your fornication shall be exposed. And your ungodliness and your fornication

You walked in the way of your sister; and I will put her cup into your hands.

And you shall be thoroughly weakened; and the cup of destruction, the cup of your sister Samaria,

Therefore thus says the Lord: Because you have forgotten Me, and have cast Me behind your back, therefore receive [the reward] of your ungodliness and your fornication.

For they have committed adultery, and blood was in their hands, they committed adultery with their devices, and they passed through the fire to them their children which they bore to Me.

And when they sacrificed their children to their idols, they also went into My sanctuary to profane it; and whereas they did thus in the midst of My house,