Her Ingratitude and Unparalleled Apostasy

4 Hear the word of Jehovah, O household of Jacob,

And all ye families of the household of Israel:

5 Thus saith Jehovah:

What wrong did your fathers discover in Me,

That they went from Me afar,

To follow after vanities,

Till they, too, became a vanity,

6 And never sought after Jehovah,

Who brought them up out of Egypt,

And led them through the desert,

A land of steppes and pits,

A land of drought and gloom,

A land that no man traversed,

A land where no man dwelt?

7 And I brought you into a garden-land,

To enjoy its fruits and its good things:

But ye came and defiled My land

And made Mine inheritance loathsome,

8 No priest was heard any more

Enquiring after Jehovah;

They that handle the law did not know Me,

The rulers rebelled against Me.

The prophets spoke by Baal,

And followed useless idols.

9 I must therefore contend with you still,

And with your children’s children.

10 Pass across to the isles of Cyprus,

Or send afar unto Kedar;

Note carefully, and see,

Hath there ever been aught like this?

11 Hath ever a nation exchanged its gods,

Though they be no gods at all?

But My people hath exchanged

Their Glory for useless idols.

12 Be appaled at this, ye heavens,

And shudder exceedingly.

13 For My people, saith Jehovah,

Have done two evil things:

Me they have forsaken,

The Fountain of Living Water,

To hew for themselves leaking cisterns,

That can hold no water at all.