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The People Took the Wrong Road

The Lord said:

People of Jerusalem,
when you stumble and fall,
    you get back up,
and if you take a wrong road,
    you turn around and go back.[a]
So why do you refuse
    to come back to me?
Why do you hold so tightly
    to your false gods?

I listen carefully,
but none of you admit
    that you've done wrong.
Without a second thought,
you run down the wrong road[b]
    like horses running blindly
    into battle.

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Footnotes

  1. 8.4 if you take … go back: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  2. 8.6 you run down the wrong road: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

Sin and Punishment

“Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘When people fall down, do they not get up?(A)
    When someone turns away,(B) do they not return?
Why then have these people turned away?
    Why does Jerusalem always turn away?
They cling to deceit;(C)
    they refuse to return.(D)
I have listened(E) attentively,
    but they do not say what is right.
None of them repent(F) of their wickedness,
    saying, “What have I done?”
Each pursues their own course(G)
    like a horse charging into battle.

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