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thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land. ¹⁹And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee.'

2And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Go, and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying: Thus saith the Lord:

I remember for thee the affection of thy youth,

The love of thine espousals;

How thou wentest after Me in the wilderness,

In a land that was not sown.

³Israel is the Lord's hallowed portion,

His first-fruits of the increase;

All that devour him shall be held guilty,

Evil shall come upon them,

Saith the Lord.

 

⁴Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob,

And all the families of the house of Israel;

⁵Thus saith the Lord:

What unrighteousness have your fathers found in Me,

That they are gone far from Me,

And have walked after things of nought, and are become nought?

⁶Neither said they:

'Where is the Lord that brought us up

Out of the land of Egypt;

That led us through the wilderness,

Through a land of deserts and of pits,

Through a land of drought and of the shadow of death,

Through a land that no man passed through,

And where no man dwelt?'

⁷And I brought you into a land of fruitful fields,

To eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof;

But when ye entered, ye defiled My land,

And made My heritage an abomination.

⁸The priests said not: 'Where is the Lord?'

And they that handle the law knew Me not,

And the rulers transgressed against Me;

The prophets also prophesied by Baal,

And walked after things that do not profit.

⁹Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord,

And with your children's children will I plead.

¹⁰For pass over to the isles of the Kittites, and see,

And send unto Kedar, and consider diligently,

And see if there hath been such a thing.

¹¹Hath a nation changed its gods,

Which yet are no gods?

But My people hath changed its glory

For that which doth not profit.

¹²Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this,

And be horribly afraid, be ye exceeding amazed,

Saith the Lord.

¹³For My people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

And hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,

That can hold no water.

 

¹⁴Is Israel a servant?

Is he a home-born slave?

Why is he become a prey?

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