Israel’s Futile Idolatry

¹The righteous man perishes,

and no man lays it to heart;

and merciful men are taken away

while no one understands,

for the righteous man is taken away

from the evil to come.

²He shall enter into peace;

they shall rest in their beds,

each one walking in his uprightness.

³But draw near to here, you sons of a sorceress,

offspring of an adulterer and prostitute.

⁴Whom do you mock?

Against whom do you open wide your mouth

and stick out your tongue?

Are you not children of transgression,

offspring of falsehood,

⁵inflaming yourselves with idols

under every green tree,

slaying the children in the valleys

under the clefts of the rocks?

⁶Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion;[#Jer 3:9]

they are your lot.

Even to them you have poured out a drink offering;

you have offered a grain offering.

Should I relent concerning these things?

⁷On a lofty and high mountain you have set your bed;[#Eze 16:16; 23:41]

even there you went up to offer sacrifice.

⁸Behind the doors and the doorposts

you have set up your memorial;

far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself;

you have enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them;

you have loved their bed,

you have looked on their nakedness.

⁹You went to the king with ointment,

and increased your perfumes,

and sent your messengers far off,

and made them go down to Sheol.

¹⁰You were wearied by the length of your road;

yet you did not say, “There is no hope.”

You have found renewed strength;

therefore, you did not faint.

¹¹Of whom were you afraid or fearful

when you lied

and you did not remember Me,

nor give Me a thought?

Have I not held My peace for a long time

so that you do not fear Me?

¹²I will declare your righteousness, and your works,[#Mic 3:2–4]

yet they shall not profit you.

¹³When you cry out,

let your collection of idols deliver you.

But the wind shall carry them all away,

a breath shall take them away.

But he who puts his trust in Me

shall possess the land

and shall inherit My holy mountain.

Healing for the Contrite

¹⁴And it shall be said,

“Build up, build up, prepare the way,

take up every stumbling block out of the way of My people.”

¹⁵For thus says the High and Lofty One

who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

I dwell in the high and holy place

and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,

to revive the spirit of the humble,

and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

¹⁶For I will not contend forever,

nor will I always be angry;

for the spirit would grow faint before Me,

and the souls whom I have made.

¹⁷For the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;[#Isa 56:11; Jer 6:13]

I hid My face and was wrathful,

and he went on turning away in the way of his heart.

¹⁸I have seen his ways but will heal him;[#Jer 3:22]

I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,

¹⁹by creating the fruit of the lips.[#Heb 13:15]

Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,

says the Lord , and I will heal him.

²⁰But the wicked are like the troubled[#Job 18:5–14; Isa 3:11]

sea when it cannot rest,

whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

²¹There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.[#Isa 48:22]