1 Minulle tuli tämä Herran sana:
3 Israel kuului Herralle niin kuin pellon ensi sato. Kaikki, jotka siihen kajosivat, saivat osakseen tuomion. Onnettomuus kohtasi heitä, sanoo Herra.
5 Näin sanoo Herra: -- Mitä pahaa isänne minusta löysivät, kun he kääntyivät minusta pois? He lähtivät seuraamaan olemattomia jumalia ja menettivät arvonsa minun silmissäni.
7 Minä toin teidät puutarhojen maahan. Te saitte syödä hedelmiä, nauttia maan antimista. Mutta tultuanne te saastutitte minun maani, turmelitte tyystin omaisuuteni.
9 Siksi minä yhä syytän teitä, sanoo Herra, ja vaadin tilille vielä lastenne lapset.
10 Menkää länteen kittiläisten saarille, lähettäkää miehiä itään Kedariin, katsokaa ja ottakaa tarkoin selville, onko missään tällaista tapahtunut!
11 Onko mikään kansa vaihtanut jumaliaan? Ja jos ne edes olisivat jumalia! Minä, Herra, olen ollut kansani voima ja kunnia. Mutta minut se on vaihtanut toisiin jumaliin, joista ei ole mitään apua.
12 Tyrmistykää, taivaat! Kauhistukaa, järkkykää perin juurin!
13 Minun kansani on tehnyt syntiä kaksin verroin: minut, elävän veden lähteen, se on hylännyt ja hakannut itselleen vesisäiliöitä, särkyviä säiliöitä, jotka eivät vettä pidä.
14 -- Ei Israel ole orja eikä orjaksi syntynyt. Miksi se sitten joutui saaliiksi?
15 Miksi viholliset kävivät sinun kimppuusi ärjyen ja karjuen kuin leijonat? Ne tekivät maasi autioksi, hävittivät kaupunkisi, niin ettei ketään jäänyt jäljelle.
16 Nyt vielä egyptiläiset, Memfiksen ja Tahpanhesin miehet, tulevat ja ajavat pääsi paljaaksi!
17 Israel, sinä itse olet tämän aiheuttanut! Sinä hylkäsit Herran, Jumalasi, vaikka hän ohjasi kulkuasi.
18 Mitä apua olisi enää siitä, että lähtisit Egyptiin juomaan Niilin vettä? Mitä hyötyä siitä, että lähtisit Assyriaan juomaan Eufratin vettä?
19 Oma pahuutesi on syynä kuritukseesi, luopumus tuo sinulle rangaistuksen. Nyt saat katkerasti kokea, miten paljon onnettomuutta koituu siitä, että hylkäsit Herran, että et pelännyt minua, Jumalaasi. Näin sanoo Herra Jumala Sebaot.
21 Minä istutin sinut, olit jalo viiniköynnös, olet kasvanut parhaimmasta siemenestä. Ja mitä minä nyt näen? Olet muuttunut villiköynnökseksi ja kannat kelvottomia oksia.
22 Vaikka pesisit itsesi saippualla, vaikka käyttäisit lipeää, jäisi syntiesi lika yhä jäljelle, en voisi olla sitä näkemättä, sanoo Herra.
24 sinä villiaasi, autiomaan kasvatti, joka himossasi pärskit ja huohotat! Mikä voi hillitä sinun kiimasi? Ei yhdenkään, joka etsii sinua kumppanikseen, tarvitse juosta itseään uuvuksiin. Kiimasi aikaan sinut kyllä löytää.
26 Niin kuin kiinni joutunut varas, niin Israelin heimokin saa osakseen häpeän: koko kansa, sen kuninkaat, päämiehet, papit ja profeetat.
28 Missä ovat ne jumalat, jotka olet itsellesi tehnyt? Tulkoot ne hädän hetkenä auttamaan sinua, jos voivat! Onhan sinulla, Juuda, jumalia yhtä paljon kuin kaupunkeja!
29 -- Miksi te yhä syytätte minua, tehän olette kaikki jo luopuneet minusta, sanoo Herra.
30 Turhaan minä olen kurittanut teitä, ette te ole ottaneet opiksenne. Oma miekkanne on syönyt teidän profeettanne kuin raateleva leijona.
32 Unohtaako neitonen korunsa tai morsian pukunsa nauhat? Minun kansani on unohtanut minut aina uudestaan, kerran toisensa jälkeen.
33 Kuinka taitava oletkaan löytämään tien rakastajiesi luo! Niinpä oletkin jo tottunut pahoihin tekoihisi.
34 Katso, viittasi liepeissä on köyhien ja viattomien verta. Sinä olet surmannut heidät, vaikka et tavannut heitä murtautumasta taloosi.
36 Miksi ryntäät suunnasta toiseen? Egypti pettää toiveesi, niin kuin Assyria aikoinaan petti.
1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 2 "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says,
"I remember for you the kindness of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you went after me in the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown.
3 Israel was holiness to Yahweh,
the first fruits of his increase.
All who devour him will be held guilty.
Evil will come on them,"’ says Yahweh."
4 Hear Yahweh’s word, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel! 5 Yahweh says,
"What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me,
that they have gone far from me,
and have walked after worthless vanity,
and have become worthless?
6 They didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
who 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 one passed through,
and where no man lived?’
7 I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruit and its goodness;
but when you entered, you defiled my land,
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’
and those who handle the law didn’t know me.
The rulers also transgressed against me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed things that do not profit.
9 "Therefore I will yet contend with you," says Yahweh,
"and I will contend with your children’s children.
10 For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see.
Send to Kedar, and consider diligently,
and see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
which really are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory for that which doesn’t profit.
12 "Be astonished, you heavens, at this
and be horribly afraid.
Be very desolate," says Yahweh.
13 "For my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters,
and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t hold water.
14 Is Israel a slave?
Is he born into slavery?
Why has he become a captive?
15 The young lions have roared at him and raised their voices.
They have made his land waste.
His cities are burned up, without inhabitant.
16 The children also of Memphis and Tahpanhes have broken the crown of your head.
17 "Haven’t you brought this on yourself,
in that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, when he led you by the way?
18 Now what do you gain by going to Egypt, to drink the waters of the Shihor?
Or why do you to go on the way to Assyria, to drink the waters of the River?
19 "Your own wickedness will correct you,
and your backsliding will rebuke you.
Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing,
that you have forsaken Yahweh your God,
and that my fear is not in you," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
20 "For long ago I broke off your yoke,
and burst your bonds.
You said, ‘I will not serve;’
for on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed yourself,
playing the prostitute.
21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine,
a pure and faithful seed.
How then have you turned into the degenerate branches of a foreign vine to me?
22 For though you wash yourself with lye,
and use much soap,
yet your iniquity is marked before me," says the Lord Yahweh.
23 "How can you say, ‘I am not defiled.
I have not gone after the Baals’?
See your way in the valley.
Know what you have done.
You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, 24 a wild donkey used to the wilderness, that sniffs the wind in her craving.
When she is in heat, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her.
25 "Keep your feet from being bare,
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is in vain.
No, for I have loved strangers,
and I will go after them.’
26 As the thief is ashamed when he is found,
so the house of Israel is ashamed—
they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,
27 who tell wood, ‘You are my father,’
and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me,’
for they have turned their back to me,
and not their face,
but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us!’
28 "But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves?
Let them arise, if they can save you in the time of your trouble,
for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.
29 "Why will you contend with me?
You all have transgressed against me," says Yahweh.
30 "I have struck your children in vain.
They received no correction.
Your own sword has devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion.
31 Generation, consider Yahweh’s word.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel?
Or a land of thick darkness?
Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose.
We will come to you no more’?
32 "Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
33 How well you prepare your way to seek love!
Therefore you have even taught the wicked women your ways.
34 Also the blood of the souls of the innocent poor is found in your skirts.
You didn’t find them breaking in,
but it is because of all these things.
35 "Yet you said, ‘I am innocent.
Surely his anger has turned away from me.’
"Behold, I will judge you,
because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 Why do you go about so much to change your ways?
You will be ashamed of Egypt also,
as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 You will also leave that place with your hands on your head;
for Yahweh has rejected those in whom you trust,
and you won’t prosper with them.