heir gods, 11
And these no gods at all?
Yet My people exchanged their(149) Glory
For that which is worthless.
Be heavy,(150) O heavens, for this, 12
Shudder and shudder again!
Twain the wrongs My people have wrought-- 13
Me have they left,
The Fount of live water,
To hew themselves cisterns,
Cisterns broken,
That cannot hold water!

Israel a slave! 14
Or house-born serf!
Why he for a prey?
Against him the young lions roar, 15
Give forth their voice,
And his land they lay waste,
Burned are his towns and tenantless.
The sons, too, of Noph and Tahpanhes have forced, 16
Have abused thee.(151)
Is not all this being done thee 17
For thy leaving of Me?(152)
And now what to thee is the road to Misraim,(153)
Nile's waters to drink?
Or what is to thee the road to Asshur, 18
To drink of the River?
Be thy scourge thine own sin, 19
Thy doublings convict thee!
Know and see how sore for thyself,
How bitter to leave Me!
But never was awe of Me thine--
Rede of the Lord thy God.(154)

From of old thou hast broken thy yoke, 20
Hast burst thy bonds,
Saying, "I will not serve!"
While upon every high hill,
And under each rustling tree,
Harlot thou sprawlest!
Yet a noble vine did I plant thee, 21
Wholly true seed;
How could'st thou change to a corrupt,(155)
A wildling grape?
Yea, though thou scour thee with nitre, 22
And heap to thee lye,
Ingrained is thy guilt before Me,
Rede of the Lord, thy God.(156)
How sayest thou, "I'm not defiled, 23
Nor gone after the Baals."
Look at thy ways in the Valley,
And own thy deeds!
A young camel, light o' heel,(157)
Zig-zagging her tracks,
A heifer, schooled to the desert-- 24
In the heat of her lust,
Snapping the wind in her passion,
Who is to turn her?
None that would seek her need strain them,
In her month they shall find her.
Save thou thy feet from the peeling, 25
Thy throat from thirst!
But thou sayest, "No use!(158)
For with strangers I'm fallen in love,
Them must I after!"
Like the shame of the thief when he's caught, 26
Shall Israel's sons(159) be shamed.
[They and their kings and their princes,
Their priests and their prop