Religion Customized to Taste

13 1-3 God once let loose against Ephraim
    a terrifying sentence against Israel:
Caught and convicted
    in the lewd sex-worship of Baal—they died!
And now they’re back in the sin business again,
    manufacturing god-images they can use,
Religion customized to taste. Professionals see to it:
    Anything you want in a god you can get.
Can you believe it? They sacrifice live babies to these dead gods—
    kill living babies and kiss golden calves!
And now there’s nothing left to these people:
    hollow men, desiccated women,
Like scraps of paper blown down the street,
    like smoke in a gusty wind.

4-6 “I’m still your God,
    the God who saved you out of Egypt.
I’m the only real God you’ve ever known.
    I’m the one and only God who delivers.
I took care of you during the wilderness hard times,
    those years when you had nothing.
I took care of you, took care of all your needs,
    gave you everything you needed.
You were spoiled. You thought you didn’t need me.
    You forgot me.

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Therefore they will be like the morning mist,
    like the early dew that disappears,(A)
    like chaff(B) swirling from a threshing floor,(C)
    like smoke(D) escaping through a window.

“But I have been the Lord your God
    ever since you came out of Egypt.(E)
You shall acknowledge(F) no God but me,(G)
    no Savior(H) except me.
I cared for you in the wilderness,(I)
    in the land of burning heat.

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