15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
    What would we gain by praying to him?’(A)

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The look on their faces testifies(A) against them;
    they parade their sin like Sodom;(B)
    they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
    They have brought disaster(C) upon themselves.

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Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,(A)
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’(B)
Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.(C)
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.(D)
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband(E) as at first,(F)
    for then I was better off(G) than now.’
She has not acknowledged(H) that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,(I)
who lavished on her the silver and gold(J)
    which they used for Baal.(K)

“Therefore I will take away my grain(L) when it ripens,
    and my new wine(M) when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
    intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose(N) her lewdness
    before the eyes of her lovers;(O)
    no one will take her out of my hands.(P)
11 I will stop(Q) all her celebrations:(R)
    her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
    her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.(S)
12 I will ruin her vines(T) and her fig trees,(U)
    which she said were her pay from her lovers;(V)
I will make them a thicket,(W)
    and wild animals will devour them.(X)
13 I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense(Y) to the Baals;(Z)
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,(AA)
    and went after her lovers,(AB)
    but me she forgot,(AC)
declares the Lord.(AD)

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Punishment for Israel

Do not rejoice, Israel;
    do not be jubilant(A) like the other nations.
For you have been unfaithful(B) to your God;
    you love the wages of a prostitute(C)
    at every threshing floor.

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