Read the Bible

"I remember how faithful you were when you were young,
    how you loved me when we were first married;
you followed me through the desert,
    through a land that had not been planted.
³ Israel, you belonged to me alone;
    you were my sacred possession.
I sent suffering and disaster
    on everyone who hurt you.
I, the Lord, have spoken."

"What accusation did your ancestors bring against me?
    What made them turn away from me?
They worshiped worthless idols
    and became worthless themselves.
⁶ They did not care about me,
    even though I rescued them from Egypt
    and led them through the wilderness:
    a land of deserts and sand pits,
    a dry and dangerous land
    where no one lives
    and no one will even travel.
⁷ I brought them into a fertile land,
    to enjoy its harvests and its other good things.
But instead they ruined my land;
    they defiled the country I had given them.
⁸ The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord?'
    My own priests did not know me.
The rulers rebelled against me;
    the prophets spoke in the name of Baal
    and worshiped useless idols.

⁹ "And so I, the Lord, will state my case against my people again.
I will bring charges against their descendants.
¹⁰ Go west to the island of Cyprus,
    and send someone eastward to the land of Kedar.
    You will see that nothing like this has ever happened before.
¹¹ No other nation has ever changed its gods,
    even though they were not real.
But my people have exchanged me,
    the God who has brought them honor,
    for gods that can do nothing for them.
¹² And so I command the sky to shake with horror,
    to be amazed and astonished,
¹³     for my people have committed two sins:
they have turned away from me,
    the spring of fresh water,
and they have dug cisterns,
    cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all.

¹⁴ "Israel is not a slave;
    he was not born into slavery.
    Why then do his enemies hunt him down?
¹⁵ They have roared at him like lions;
    they have made his land a desert,
    and his towns lie in ruins, completely abandoned.
¹⁶ Yes, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
    have cracked his skull.
¹⁷ Israel, you brought this on yourself
    You deserted me, the Lord your God,
    while I was leading you along the way.
¹⁸ What do you think you will gain by going to Egypt
    to drink water from the Nile?
What do you think you will gain by going to Assyria
    to drink water from the Euphrates?
¹⁹ Your own evil will punish you,
    and your turning from me will condemn you.
You will learn how bitter and wrong it is
    to abandon me, the Lord your God,
    and no longer to remain faithful to me.
I, the Sovereign Lord Almighty, have spoken."

"Israel, long ago you rejected my authority;
    you refused to obey me and worship me.
On every high hill
    and under every green tree
    you worshiped fertility gods.
²¹ I planted you like a choice vine
    from the very best seed.
But look what you have become!
    You are like a rotten, worthless vine.
²² Even if you washed with the strongest soap,
    I would still see the stain of your guilt.
²³ How can you say you have not defiled yourself,
    that you have never worshiped Baal?
Look how you sinned in the valley;
    see what you have done.
You are like a wild camel in heat,
    running around loose,
²⁴     rushing into the desert.^[a]
When she is in heat, who can control her?
No male that wants her has to trouble himself;
    she is always available in mating season.
²⁵ Israel, don't wear your feet out,
    or let your throat become dry
    from chasing after other gods.
But you say, ‘No! I can't turn back.
    I have loved foreign gods
    and will go after them.'"