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!’
²⁸ Where then are the gods^(S) you made for yourselves?
    Let them come if they can save you
    when you are in trouble!^(T)
For you, Judah, have as many gods
    as you have towns.^(U)

²⁹ “Why do you bring charges against me?
    You have all^(V) rebelled against me,”
declares the Lord.
³⁰ “In vain I punished your people;
    they did not respond to correction.^(W)
Your sword has devoured your prophets^(X)
    like a ravenous lion.

“Have I been a desert to Israel
    or a land of great darkness?^(Y)
Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam;
    we will come to you no more’?^(Z)
32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry,
    a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten^(AA) me,
    days without number.
³³ How skilled you are at pursuing^(AB) love!
    Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
³⁴ On your clothes is found
    the lifeblood^(AC) of the innocent poor,
    though you did not catch them breaking in.^(AD)
Yet in spite of all this
³⁵     you say, ‘I am innocent;^(AE)
    he is not angry with me.’
But I will pass judgment^(AF) on you
    because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’^(AG)
36 Why do you go about so much,
    changing^(AH) your ways?
You will be disappointed by Egypt^(AI)
    as you were by Assyria.
³⁷ You will also leave that place
    with your hands on your head,^(AJ)
for the Lord has rejected those you trust;
    you will not be helped^(AK) by them.

3 “If a man divorces^(AL) his wife
    and she leaves him and marries another man,
should he return to her again?
    Would not the land be completely defiled?^(AM)
But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers^(AN)—
    would you now return to me?”^(AO)
declares the Lord.
² “Look up to the barren heights^(AP) and see.
    Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside^(AQ) you sat waiting for lovers,
    sat like a nomad in the desert.
You have defiled the land^(AR)
    with your prostitution^(AS) and wickedness.
³ Therefore the showers have been withheld,^(AT)
    and no spring rains^(AU) have fallen.
Yet you have the brazen^(AV) look of a prostitute;
    you refuse to blush with shame.^(AW)
4 Have you not just called to me:
    ‘My Father,^(AX) my friend from my youth,^(AY)
5 will you always be angry?^(AZ)
    Will your wrath continue forever?’
This is how you talk,
    but you do all the evil you can.”