¹⁸ The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.^(A)

¹⁹ Is it I whom they provoke? says the Lord. Is it not themselves, to their own hurt?^(A)

⁹ He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great; the land is full of bloodshed and the city full of perversity, for they say, ‘The Lord has forsaken the land, and the Lord does not see.’^(A)

²⁶ You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors,^[a] multiplying your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.^(A)