Daily Bread

²⁰ “Long ago you broke off your yoke^(A)
    and tore off your bonds;^(B)
    you said, ‘I will not serve you!’^(C)
Indeed, on every high hill^(D)
    and under every spreading tree^(E)
    you lay down as a prostitute.^(F)
21 I had planted^(G) you like a choice vine^(H)
    of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
    into a corrupt,^(I) wild vine?
²² Although you wash^(J) yourself with soap^(K)
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.^(L)
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;^(M)
    I have not run after the Baals’?^(N)
See how you behaved in the valley;^(O)
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running^(P) here and there,
²⁴ a wild donkey^(Q) accustomed to the desert,^(R)
    sniffing the wind in her craving—
    in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
    at mating time they will find her.
²⁵ Do not run until your feet are bare
    and your throat is dry.
But you said, ‘It’s no use!^(S)
    I love foreign gods,^(T)
    and I must go after them.’^(U)

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced^(V) when he is caught,
    so the people of Israel are disgraced—
they, their kings and their officials,
    their priests^(W) and their prophets.^(X)
27 They say to wood,^(Y) ‘You are my father,’
    and to stone,^(Z) ‘You gave me birth.’
They have turned their backs^(AA) to me
    and not their faces;^(AB)
yet when they are in trouble,^(AC) they say,
    ‘Come and save^(AD) us!’
²⁸ Where then are the gods^(AE) you made for yourselves?
    Let them come if they can save you
    when you are in trouble!^(AF)
For you, Judah, have as many gods
    as you have towns.^(AG)

²⁹ “Why do you bring charges against me?
    You have all^(AH) rebelled against me,”
declares the Lord.
³⁰ “In vain I punished your people;
    they did not respond to correction.^(AI)
Your sword has devoured your prophets^(AJ)
    like a ravenous lion.

“Have I been a desert to Israel
    or a land of great darkness?^(AK)
Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam;
    we will come to you no more’?^(AL)
32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry,
    a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten^(AM) me,
    days without number.
³³ How skilled you are at pursuing^(AN) love!
    Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
³⁴ On your clothes is found
    the lifeblood^(AO) of the innocent poor,
    though you did not catch them breaking in.^(AP)
Yet in spite of all this
³⁵     you say, ‘I am innocent;^(AQ)
    he is not angry with me.’
But I will pass judgment^(AR) on you
    because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’^(AS)
36 Why do you go about so much,
    changing^(AT) your ways?
You will be disappointed by Egypt^(AU)
    as you were by Assyria.
³⁷ You will also leave that place
    with your hands on your head,^(AV)
for the Lord has rejected those you trust;
    you will not be helped^(AW) by them.

3 “If a man divorces^(AX) his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?^(AY)
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers^(AZ)—
    would you now return to me?”^(BA)
declares the Lord.
² “Look up to the barren heights^(BB) and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside^(BC) you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land^(BD)
    with your prostitution^(BE) and wickedness.
³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,^(BF)
    and no spring rains^(BG) have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen^(BH) look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame.^(BI)
4 Have you not just called to me:
    ‘My Father,^(BJ) my friend from my youth,^(BK)
5 will you always be angry?^(BL)
    Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
    but you do all the evil you can.”