Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, {so} their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. {fire: Heb. tongue of fire}

Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?

For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, {and} hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

Because the carnal mind {is} enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. {the carnal...: Gr. the minding of the flesh}

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers {did}, so {do} ye.

Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: {do they} not {provoke} themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that {it is} an evil {thing} and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear {is} not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

That say, Let him make speed, {and} hasten his work, that we may see {it}: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know {it}!

For the LORD {is} our defence; and the Holy One of Israel {is} our king. {the LORD...: or, our shield is of the LORD, and our king is of the Holy One of Israel}

And when the LORD saw {it}, he abhorred {them}, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters. {abhorred: or, despised}

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings {are} against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, {and} slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies. {as soon...: Heb. from the belly}

But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore.

Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it.

A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick; {upon...: Heb. upon bricks}

For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.

Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted {thy} voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? {even} against the Holy One of Israel.

Fear not, thou worm Jacob, {and} ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD, and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. {men: or, few men}

Come unto me, all {ye} that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee? {We are...: Heb. We have dominion}

But the men of Sodom {were} wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

For Israel {hath} not {been} forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.

Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

{Ye} serpents, {ye} generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt:

How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, {and} grieve him in the desert! {provoke: or, rebel against}

Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she hath done, do unto her: for she hath been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.

Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?

I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. {tread...: Heb. lay them a treading}

Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers.

They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. {hirest: Heb. bribest}

And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation {that} set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God. {that...: Heb. that prepared not their heart}

Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?

And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, saying, We have sinned against thee, both because we have forsaken our God, and also served Baalim.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go {to be} among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. {sleep: Heb. lie down}

Thy princes {are} rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

The meek also shall increase {their} joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. {increase: Heb. add}

Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, {and} shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

That this {is} a rebellious people, lying children, children {that} will not hear the law of the LORD:

And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel.

For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great {is} the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. {inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress}

And them that are turned back from the LORD; and {those} that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

Come unto me, all {ye} that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

They have corrupted themselves, their spot {is} not {the spot} of his children: {they are} a perverse and crooked generation. {They have...: Heb. He hath corrupted to himself} {their...: or, that they are not his children, that is their blot}

Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that {is} written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt {yourselves}, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.

Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered {with fatness}; then he forsook God {which} made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.

Thou {art} thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou {art} the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother {was} an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

For the LORD {is} our defence; and the Holy One of Israel {is} our king. {the LORD...: or, our shield is of the LORD, and our king is of the Holy One of Israel}

Thou shalt not be joined with them in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, {and} slain thy people: the seed of evildoers shall never be renowned.

That this {is} a rebellious people, lying children, children {that} will not hear the law of the LORD:

Turn ye unto {him from} whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.

Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, {and} draw out the tongue? {are} ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,

For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions {are} with us; and {as for} our iniquities, we know them;

But thou shalt say unto them, This {is} a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth. {correction: or, instruction}

Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; {not...: or, not desirous}

They {are} all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: {they are} brass and iron; they {are} all corrupters.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: {Is} not the LORD in Zion? {is} not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, {and} with strange vanities? {them...: Heb. the country of them that are far off}

Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one {is} an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand {is} stretched out still. {folly: or, villany}

Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow {is} incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: {because} thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah {is} exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not. {full of blood: Heb. filled with, etc} {perverseness: or, wresting of judgment}

[To the chief Musician, {A Psalm} of David.] The fool hath said in his heart, {There is} no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, {there is} none that doeth good.

And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

And he said, I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, {even} I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.

And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

And, behold, ye are risen up in your fathers' stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the LORD toward Israel.

For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. {frowardly: Heb. turning away}

Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, {even} these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:

Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way?