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

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15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?

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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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The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto 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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For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.

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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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Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor.

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