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And the Word of Yahuah came to me, saying,
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“Go and call in the ears of Yerushalayim, saying, ‘Thus says Yahuah: I remember for you the covenant-faithfulness of your youth, the love of your bridal time, your walking after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
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Yisra’el was set apart to Yahuah, the firstfruits of His increase. All who devoured him were held guilty; evil came upon them,’” declares Yahuah.
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Hear the Word of Yahuah, House of Yaaqov, and all families of the House of Yisra’el.
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Thus says Yahuah: “What crookedness did your fathers find in Me, that they went far from Me, walked after emptiness, and became empty?
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And they did not say, ‘Where is Yahuah, who brought us up from the land of Mitzrayim, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of desert and pit, through a land of drought and death-shadow, through a land no ish passed through and where no Adam dwelt?’
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And I brought you into a land of orchards to eat its fruit and its goodness. But you came and defiled My land, and made My Inheritance an abomination.
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The Kohenim did not say, ‘Where is Yahuah?’ Those holding the Torah did not know Me. The shepherds transgressed against Me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit.
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Therefore I shall yet contend with you,” declares Yahuah, “and with the sons of your sons I shall contend.
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For cross over to the coastlands of Kittiyim and see; send to Qedar and consider diligently. See whether there has been a thing like this:
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Has a nation changed elohim, though they are not Elohim? But My people exchanged their glory for what does not profit.
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Be astonished at this, heavens; shudder and become utterly dry,” declares Yahuah.
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“For My people have done two evils: they forsook Me, the fountain of living waters, to cut for themselves cisterns— broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
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Is Yisra’el a servant? Is he one born in the House? Why has he become prey?
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Young lions roar against him; they give their voice. They make his land a desolation; his cities are burned, without inhabitant.
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Even the sons of Nof and Tachpanches graze upon the crown of your head.
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Have you not done this to yourself by forsaking Yahuah your Elohim at the time He was leading you in the Way?
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And now, what is yours in the way to Mitzrayim, to drink the waters of Shichor? And what is yours in the way to Ashshur, to drink the waters of the River?
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Your own evil shall correct you, and your turning away shall rebuke you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter that you have forsaken Yahuah your Elohim, and that My fear is not in you,” declares Adonai Yahuah of Hosts.
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“For from ancient time I broke your yoke and tore your bonds. Yet you said, ‘I shall not serve.’ For upon every high hill and beneath every green tree you bent yourself, committing whoredom.
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Yet I planted you as a choice vine, entirely seed of truth. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate growth of a foreign vine?
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Though you wash with natron and multiply soap for yourself, your crookedness remains stained before My face,” declares Adonai Yahuah.
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“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled; I did not walk after the Baalim’? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done— a swift young camel twisting her ways;
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a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, drawing in the wind in the desire of her being. In her time of heat, who can turn her back? All who seek her do not weary themselves; in her new moon they find her.
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Withhold your foot from being bare and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is hopeless. No, for I have loved strangers, and after them I shall walk.’
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As a thief is ashamed when he is found, so the House of Yisra’el is ashamed— they, their sovereigns, their rulers, their Kohenim, and their prophets;
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saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they turned the back of the neck to Me and not the face. Yet in the time of their evil they say, ‘Rise and save us.’
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But where are your elohim that you made for yourself? Let them rise, if they can save you in the time of your evil. For according to the number of your cities are your elohim, Yehudah.
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Why do you contend with Me? All of you have transgressed against Me,” declares Yahuah.
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“In vain I struck your sons; they did not receive correction. Your own sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.
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O generation, see the Word of Yahuah. Have I been a wilderness to Yisra’el, or a land of thick darkness? Why have My people said, ‘We roam freely; we shall no longer come to You’?
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Does a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her binding cords? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.
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How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have even taught the evil ones your ways.
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Also in your skirts is found the blood of the beings of the innocent poor. You did not find them breaking in, yet it is upon all these.
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But you say, ‘I am innocent; surely His fury has turned from me.’ See, I am entering Judgment with you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
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Why do you go about so greatly changing your way? You shall also be ashamed of Mitzrayim, as you were ashamed of Ashshur.
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From this one also you shall go out with your hands upon your head, for Yahuah has rejected those in whom you trust, and you shall not prosper by them.