²³ “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;^(A)
    I have not run after the Baals’?^(B)
See how you behaved in the valley;^(C)
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running^(D) here and there,
²⁴ a wild donkey^(E) accustomed to the desert,^(F)
    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!^(G)
    I love foreign gods,^(H)
    and I must go after them.’^(I)

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced^(J) when he is caught,
    so the people of Israel are disgraced—
they, their kings and their officials,
    their priests^(K) and their prophets.^(L)
27 They say to wood,^(M) ‘You are my father,’
    and to stone,^(N) ‘You gave me birth.’
They have turned their backs^(O) to me
    and not their faces;^(P)
yet when they are in trouble,^(Q) they say,
    ‘Come and save^(R) us!’