"How can you say, 'I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals'? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: [You are] a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,

" Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me," says the LORD.

'I [am] pure, without transgression; I [am] innocent, and [there is] no iniquity in me.

He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes [them] will have mercy.

'Why have we fasted,' [they say,] 'and You have not seen? [Why] have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?' "In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.

I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

" Therefore I will yet bring charges against you," says the LORD, "And against your children's children I will bring charges.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.