"And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, since You our God have punished us less than our iniquities [deserve,] and have given us [such] deliverance as this,

"O LORD God of Israel, You [are] righteous, for we are left as a remnant, as [it is] this day. Here we [are] before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand before You because of this!"

'Thus says the LORD: "Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring [it] in by the gates of Jerusalem;

"But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.

'Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, the wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

"So the LORD could no longer bear [it,] because of the evil of your doings [and] because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as [it is] this day.

She has never given up her harlotry [brought] from Egypt, For in her youth they had lain with her, Pressed her virgin bosom, And poured out their immorality upon her.

They shall also strip you of your clothes And take away your beautiful jewelry.

"Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds." ' But they did not hear nor heed Me," says the LORD.

Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? "So they returned and said: 'Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us, According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.' " ' "

' And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.

then I also will walk contrary to you in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins.

"And look! You have risen in your father's place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel.

'[Is] the iniquity of Peor not enough for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD,

'but that you must turn away this day from following the LORD? And it shall be, if you rebel today against the LORD, that tomorrow He will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.