“I remember the devotion of ^kyour youth,

your love ^las a bride,

^mhow you followed me in the wilderness,

ⁿin a land not sown.

3  ^oIsrael was holy to the Lord,

^pthe firstfruits of his harvest.

^qAll who ate of it incurred guilt;

disaster came upon them,

declares the Lord.”

^r“What wrong did your fathers find in me

that they went far from me,

^sand went after ^tworthlessness, and became worthless?

6  They did not say, ^u‘Where is the Lord

who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

who led us ^vin the wilderness,

in a land of deserts and pits,

in a land of drought and deep darkness,

in a land that none passes through,

where no man dwells?’

7  ^wAnd I brought you into a plentiful land

to enjoy its fruits and its good things.

But when you came in, ^xyou defiled my land

and made my heritage an abomination.

8  The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’

^yThose who handle the law did not know me;

^zthe shepherds¹ transgressed against me;

^athe prophets prophesied by Baal

and went after ^bthings that do not profit.

9  “Therefore ^cI still contend with you,

declares the Lord,

and ^dwith your children’s children I will contend.

10  For cross to the coasts of ^eCyprus and see,

or send to ^fKedar and examine with care;

see if there has been such a thing.

11  ^gHas a nation changed its gods,

^heven though they are no gods?

But my people ⁱhave changed their glory

for ^bthat which does not profit.

12  Be appalled, ^jO heavens, at this;

be shocked, be utterly desolate,

declares the Lord,

13  for my people have committed two evils:

^kthey have forsaken ^lme,

the fountain of ^mliving waters,

and hewed out cisterns for themselves,

broken cisterns that can hold no water.

14  ⁿ“Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?

Why then has he become a prey?

15  ^oThe lions have roared against him;

they have roared loudly.

They have made his land a waste;

his cities are in ruins, ^pwithout inhabitant.

16  Moreover, the men of ^qMemphis and ^rTahpanhes

^shave shaved² the crown of your head.

17  ^tHave you not brought this upon yourself

by forsaking the Lord your God,

when ^uhe led you in the way?

18  ^vAnd now what do you gain by going to Egypt

to drink the waters of ^wthe Nile?

^xOr what do you gain by going to Assyria

to drink the waters of ^ythe Euphrates?³

19  ^zYour evil will chastise you,

and ^ayour apostasy will reprove you.

Know and see that it is evil and ^bbitter

for ^cyou to forsake the Lord your God;

the fear of me is not in you,

declares the Lord God of hosts.

20  “For long ago I ^dbroke your yoke

and burst your bonds;

but you said, ^e‘I will not serve.’

Yes, ^fon every high hill

and under every green tree

you bowed down ^glike a whore.

21  ^hYet I planted you a choice vine,

wholly of pure seed.

ⁱHow then have you turned degenerate

and become a wild vine?

22  Though you wash yourself with lye

and use much soap,

^jthe stain of your guilt is still before me,

declares the Lord God.

23  ^kHow can you say, ‘I am not unclean,

I have not gone after the Baals’?

Look at your way ^lin the valley;

know what you have done—

a restless young camel running here and there,

24  ^ma wild donkey used to the wilderness,

in her heat sniffing the wind!

Who can restrain her lust?

None who seek her need weary themselves;

in her month they will find her.

25  Keep ⁿyour feet from going unshod

and ^oyour throat from thirst.

But you said, ‘It is hopeless,

^pfor I have loved foreigners,

and after them I will go.’

26  “As a thief is shamed when caught,

so the house of Israel shall be shamed:

^qthey, their kings, their officials,

their priests, and their prophets,

27  who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’

and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’

For they have turned their back to me,

and not their face.

But ^rin the time of their trouble they say,

‘Arise and save us!’

28  But ^swhere are your gods

that you made for yourself?

Let them arise, ^tif they can save you,

in your time of trouble;

for ^uas many as your cities

are your gods, O Judah.

29  “Why do you contend with me?

You have all transgressed against me,

declares the Lord.

30  In vain have I ^vstruck your children;

they took no correction;

^wyour own sword devoured your prophets

like a ravening lion.

31  And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.

Have I been a wilderness to Israel,

or a land of thick darkness?

Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,

we will come no more to you’?

32  ^xCan a virgin forget her ornaments,

or a bride her attire?

Yet ^ymy people have forgotten me

days without number.

33  “How well you direct your course

to seek love!

So that even to wicked women

you have taught your ways.

34  Also on your skirts is found

^zthe lifeblood of the guiltless poor;

you did not find them ^abreaking in.

Yet in spite of all these things

35  you say, ‘I am innocent;

surely his anger has turned from me.’

^bBehold, I will bring you to judgment

for ^csaying, ‘I have not sinned.’

36  ^dHow much you go about,

changing your way!

You shall be ^eput to shame by Egypt

as you were put to shame by Assyria.

37  From it too you will come away

with ^fyour hands on your head,

for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,

and you will not prosper by them.

1  ^g“If⁴ a man divorces his wife

and she goes from him

and becomes another man’s wife,

will he return to her?

^hWould not that land be greatly polluted?

ⁱYou have played the whore with many lovers;

and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.

2  Lift up your eyes to ^jthe bare heights, and see!

Where have you not been ravished?

^kBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers

like an Arab in the wilderness.

^hYou have polluted the land

with your vile whoredom.

3  ^lTherefore the showers have been withheld,

and the spring rain has not come;

yet you have ^mthe forehead of a whore;

you refuse to be ashamed.

4  Have you not just now ⁿcalled to me,

‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—

5  ^owill he be angry forever,

will he be indignant to the end?’

Behold, you have spoken,

but you have done all the evil that you could.”

^z“‘Return, faithless Israel,

declares the Lord.

I will not look on you in anger,

for ^aI am merciful,

declares the Lord;

^bI will not be angry forever.

13  ^cOnly acknowledge your guilt,

that you rebelled against the Lord your God

and scattered your favors among foreigners under ^devery green tree,

and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

14  ^eReturn, O faithless children,

declares the Lord;

^ffor I am your master;

I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,

and I will bring you to Zion.

19  “‘I said,

How I would set you among my sons,

and give you a pleasant land,

a heritage most beautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would ⁿcall me, My Father,

and would not turn from following me.

20  ^oSurely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,

so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,

declares the Lord.’”

21  A voice on the ^pbare heights is heard,

^qthe weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons

because they have perverted their way;

they have forgotten the Lord their God.

22  ^r“Return, O faithless sons;

^sI will heal your faithlessness.”

“Behold, we come to you,

for you are the Lord our God.

23  Truly ^tthe hills are a delusion,

the orgies⁵ on the mountains.

^uTruly in the Lord our God

is the salvation of Israel.

1  ^lBless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, you are ^mvery great!

ⁿYou are clothed with splendor and majesty,

2  covering yourself with light as with a garment,

^ostretching out the heavens ^plike a tent.

3  He ^qlays the beams of his ^rchambers on the waters;

he makes ^sthe clouds his chariot;

he rides on ^tthe wings of the wind;

4  he ^umakes his messengers winds,

his ^vministers ^wa flaming fire.

5  He ^xset the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved.

6  You ^ycovered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7  At ^zyour rebuke they fled;

at ^athe sound of your thunder they ^btook to flight.

8  The mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you ^cappointed for them.

9  You set ^da boundary that they may not pass,

so that they ^emight not again cover the earth.

10  You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills;

11  they ^fgive drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12  Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches.

13  ^gFrom your lofty abode you ^hwater the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.

14  You cause ⁱthe grass to grow for the livestock

and ^jplants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth ^kfood from the earth

15  and ^lwine to gladden the heart of man,

^moil to make his face shine

and bread to ⁿstrengthen man’s heart.

16  The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

^othe cedars of Lebanon ^pthat he planted.

17  In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees.

18  The high mountains are for ^qthe wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for ^rthe rock badgers.

19  He made the moon to mark the ^sseasons;¹

the sun knows its time for setting.

20  ^tYou make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about.

21  ^uThe young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God.

22  When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their ^vdens.

23  ^wMan goes out to his work

and to his labor until the evening.

24  O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In ^xwisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25  Here is the sea, great and wide,

^ywhich teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and great.

26  There go the ships,

and ^zLeviathan, which you formed to ^aplay in it.²

27  These ^ball look to you,

to ^cgive them their food in due season.

28  When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you ^dopen your hand, they are filled with good things.

29  When you ^ehide your face, they are ^fdismayed;

when you ^gtake away their breath, they die

and ^hreturn to their dust.

30  When you ⁱsend forth your Spirit,³ they are created,

and you ^jrenew the face of the ground.

31  May the glory of the Lord ^kendure forever;

may the Lord ^lrejoice in his works,

32  who looks on the earth and it ^mtrembles,

who ⁿtouches the mountains and they smoke!

33  I will sing to the Lord ^oas long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being.

34  May my ^pmeditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord.

35  Let ^qsinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

^rBless the Lord, O my soul!

^sPraise the Lord!