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.

Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD, and made them commit a great sin.

until the LORD removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, [as it is] to this day.

Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, [according] to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the LORD which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till [there was] no remedy.

Thus says the LORD: "Where [is] the certificate of your mother's divorce, Whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors [is it] to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.

Why, when I came, [was there] no man? [Why,] when I called, [was there] none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because [there is] no water, And die of thirst.

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.

For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.

They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And [from] that which is crushed a viper breaks out.

Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts [are] thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction [are] in their paths.

Therefore justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, [but] we walk in blackness!

We all growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We look for justice, but [there is] none; For salvation, [but] it is far from us.

In transgressing and lying against the LORD, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

So truth fails, And he [who] departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the LORD saw [it,] and it displeased Him That [there was] no justice.

Have you not brought this on yourself, In that you have forsaken the LORD your God When He led you in the way?

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.

"Your ways and your doings Have procured these [things] for you. This [is] your wickedness, Because it is bitter, Because it reaches to your heart."

Your iniquities have turned these [things] away, And your sins have withheld good from you.

Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people -- The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.

The crown has fallen [from] our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!

who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men,

forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up [the measure of] their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.

"For the saying which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which [are] in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass."

"When I would have healed Israel, Then the iniquity of Ephraim was uncovered, And the wickedness of Samaria. For they have committed fraud; A thief comes in; A band of robbers takes spoil outside.

Your calf is rejected, O Samaria! My anger is aroused against them -- How long until they attain to innocence?

For from Israel [is] even this: A workman made it, and it [is] not God; But the calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

Woe to you [who are] at ease in Zion, And trust in Mount Samaria, Notable persons in the chief nation, To whom the house of Israel comes!

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, Who say, 'As your god lives, O Dan!' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives!' They shall fall and never rise again."

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel.

And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that [was] at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship.

And when the king came back from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king approached the altar and made offerings on it.

For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made molded images for the Baals.

And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, saying, "Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me." But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.