The Unfaithfulness of Israel’s Ancestors

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O house of Jacob, and all the clans[fn] of the house of Israel.

• 5 Thus says Yahweh:“What injustice did your ancestors[fn] find in me
  • that they were far from me,
• and they went after the vanity,
  • and they became vain?
  • 6  ‘Where is Yahweh,
• the one who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
  • the one who led us in the desert,[fn]
• in a land of desert plains and gorges,[fn]
  • in a land of dryness and deep darkness,
• in a land[fn]
  • and no human lives there?’
  • 7  to eat its fruit, and its good things.[fn]
• But you entered and defiled my land,
  • and my inheritance you made a detestable thing.[fn]
  • 8 is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law did not know me,
• and the shepherds have[fn]
  • and the prophets prophesied by Baal,
• and they went after things which do not profit.