And I have called unto you, but ye answered not: 14 Therefore will I do to the house, which is called by my name,

In which ye place your confidence,

And to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers,

According to what I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out from my presence, As I have cast out all your brethren,

16

The whole seed of Ephraim.

And as for thee, pray not for this people, Neither lift up in their behalf a cry or a supplication,

Neither intercede with me;

For I will not hear thee.

17 Seest thou not what these are doing

In the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Je

rusalem?

18 The sons gather wood,

And the fathers kindle the fire,

And the women knead dough,

To make cakes for the regency of the heavens,
And to pour out libations to strange gods,

So as to vex me.

19 Do they vex me? saith JEHOVAH;

Do they not [vex] themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

20 Therefore thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, my anger and my fury shall be poured forth on this place,

Upon man, and upon beast,

And upon the trees of the field,

And upon the fruit of the ground;

And it shall burn, and not be quenched.

G

21

22

Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel;
Add your burnt-offerings unto your sacrifices,
And eat ye flesh.

For I spake not with your fathers, nor com7 manded them,

In the day I brought them out of the land of
Egypt,

For the sake of burnt-offering and sacrifice :
23 But this was the matter I commanded them,
Saying, Hearken ye unto my voice;
So will I be unto you a God,

And ye shall be unto me a people;

And ye shall walk in all the way which I shall command you,

That it may go well with you.

24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, But pursued measures according to the imagination of their evil heart,

And drew backward, and not forward.

25 From the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt,

Even unto this day,

I have also sent unto you all

phets,

my servants the pro

Daily rising early and sending.

26 But they have not hearkened unto me,

Nor have they inclined their ear;

But they have hardened their neck,

They have acted more wickedly than their fathers.

27 And when thou shalt speak all these things unto

them,

They will not hearken unto thee;
And when thou shalt call unto them,
They will make thee no answer.

28 Therefore shalt thou say unto them, This is the

29

nation,

Which have not hearkened unto the voice of JE

HOVAH their God;

Neither have they admitted correction;

Truth hath failed, and is cut off from their mouth.
Shave off thy Nazarite locks, and cast them

away,

And set up a lamentation upon the open plains;
Because JEHOVAH hath rejected his people,

And hath turned adrift the generation of his wrath. 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith JEHOVAH;

They have set their abominations in the house, Which is called by my name, to pollute it. 31 And they have erected the high places of Tophet, Which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, To burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; Which I commanded not,

Nor was it acceptable unto me.

32 Therefore behold the days are coming, saith JE

HOVAH,

That it shall no more be called Topheth,

Or the valley of the son of Hinnom ;

But the valley of slaughter:

And they shall bury in Topheth, till there be no room left.

33 And the carcases of this people shall be for meat To the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth;

And none shall scare [them] away.

34 And I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, And from the streets of Jerusalem,

The voice of joy, and the voice of mirth,

The voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride;

For the land shall become a desolation.

CHAP. VIII.

1

At that time, saith JEHOVAH, Shall they cast forth The bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of the princes thereof,

And the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets,

And the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,

out of their graves;

2 And they shall leave them exposed to the sun, to the moon,

and

And to all the host of heaven, which they have loved,

And which they have served, and after which they have gone,

And which they have sought, and to which they

have bowed down :

They shall not be gathered, nor shall they be buried;

They shall be as dung upon the face of the ground. 3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the remnant,

4

Those that are left of this evil family in all places
Whither I have driven them, saith JEHOVAH of
hosts.

THOU shalt also say unto them, Thus saith
JEHOVAH;

Shall they that fall not rise again?

Or he that turneth away, shall he not return?

5 Why then hath this people revolted,

Jerusalem with a perpetual apostasy?

They have taken fast hold of deceit, They have refused to return. 6 I have hearkened with attention,

They will not speak aright;

No one repenteth of his wickedness,
Saying, What have I done?

Every one that turneth away runneth on full speed,
As a horse rushing to the battle.

7 Even the stork in the heavens knoweth her stated times,

And the turtle dove, and the crane, and the swallow observe the season of their coming :

But my people have not discerned the judgment

of JEHOVAH.

8 How will ye say, We are wise,

And the law of JEHOVAH is among us?

Surely the false pen of scribes

Hath converted these into falsehood.

The wise ones are confounded,

They are dismayed and ensnared ;

Behold, they have spurned at the word of JEHO-
VAH;

And as for wisdom, what is there in them?

10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, Their fields to those that shall enter into posses

sion;

Because from the least even unto the greatest,
Every one is wholly addicted to his lust;
From the prophet even unto the priest,
Every one practiseth falsehood.

11 And they have healed the wound of the daughter of my people superficially,

Saying, Peace, peace; when there was no peace. 12 Were they ashamed because they had committed abomination?