"Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

Then the LORD said to me, "Backsliding Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.

Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God, And have scattered your charms To alien deities under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,' says the LORD.

Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that [it is] an evil and bitter [thing] That you have forsaken the LORD your God, And the fear of Me [is] not in you," Says the Lord GOD of hosts.

"Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels [and] the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods,

Also the children of Israel secretly did against the LORD their God things that [were] not right, and they built for themselves high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city.

There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the LORD had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger,

Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments [and] My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets."

And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and [went] after the nations who [were] all around them, [concerning] whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them.

And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

" Now although her sister Oholibah saw [this,] she became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister's harlotry.

" For of old I have broken your yoke [and] burst your bonds; And you said, 'I will not transgress,' When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot.

"On a lofty and high mountain You have set your bed; EVEN there you went up To offer sacrifice.

"[that] you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street.

"You built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry.

" You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.

"When I brought them into the land [concerning] which I had raised My hand in an oath to give them, and they saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, there they offered their sacrifices and provoked Me with their offerings. There they also sent up their sweet aroma and poured out their drink offerings.

For they also built for themselves high places, [sacred] pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.