Israel's Futile Idolatry

¹The righteous man perishes,

and no one lays it to heart;

rdevout men are taken away,

while no one understands.

For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;

²she enters into peace;

they rest tin their beds

who walk in their uprightness.

³But you, draw near,

sons of the sorceress,

uoffspring of the adulterer and the loose woman.

⁴Whom are you mocking?

Against whom vdo you open your mouth wide

and stick out your tongue?

Are you not children of wtransgression,

xthe offspring of deceit,

⁵you who burn with lust among ythe oaks,1

under every green tree,

zwho slaughter your children in the valleys,

under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Among the smooth stones of athe valley is your portion;

they, they, are your lot;

to them you have poured out a drink offering,

you have brought a grain offering.

Shall I relent for these things?

⁷bOn a high and lofty mountain

you have set your bed,

and there you went up to offer sacrifice.

⁸Behind the door and the doorpost

you have set up your memorial;

for, deserting me, cyou have uncovered your bed,

you have gone up to it,

dyou have made it wide;

and you have made a covenant for yourself with them,

you have loved their bed,

you have looked on nakedness.2

⁹You journeyed to the king with oil

and multiplied your perfumes;

eyou sent your envoys far off,

and sent down even to Sheol.

¹⁰You were wearied with the length of your way,

fbut you did not say, “It is hopeless”;

you found new life for your strength,

and so you were not faint.3

¹¹gWhom did you dread and fear,

hso that you lied,

and did not remember me,

did not lay it to heart?

iHave I not held my peace, even for a long time,

and you do not fear me?

¹²I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,

but they will not profit you.

¹³jWhen you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!

The wind will carry them all off,

a breath will take them away.

kBut he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land

and shall inherit lmy holy mountain.

Comfort for the Contrite

¹⁴And it shall be said,

m“Build up, build up, prepare the way,

remove every obstruction from my people's way.”

¹⁵For thus says nthe One who is high and lifted up,

who inhabits eternity, whose name is oHoly:

p“I dwell in the high and holy place,

and also qwith him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit,

rto revive the spirit of the lowly,

and to revive the heart of the contrite.

¹⁶sFor I will not contend forever,

nor will I always be angry;

for the spirit would grow faint before me,

and the breath of life that I made.

¹⁷Because of the iniquity of his tunjust gain I was angry,

I struck him; I hid my face and was angry,

but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.

¹⁸I have seen his ways, ubut I will heal him;

I will lead him vand restore comfort to him and his mourners,

¹⁹wcreating xthe fruit of the lips.

yPeace, peace, zto the far and to the near,” says the Lord,

u“and I will heal him.

²⁰aBut the wicked are like the tossing sea;

for it cannot be quiet,

and its waters toss up mire and dirt.

²¹bThere is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”