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so that the house of Isra'el will no longer wander away from me or defile themselves with all their crimes; rather, they will be my people and I will be their God,' says Adonai Elohim ."

"Human being, when a land sins against me by dealing treacherously with me, so that I stretch out my hand over it and break off its food supply, sending it famine and eliminating both its humans and its animals;

"If I unleash wild beasts on the land, and they kill its children and desolate it, so that no one can pass through because of the animals;

"Or if I bring the sword down on that land, saying, ‘Let the sword pass through the land,' so that I eliminate both its humans and its animals;

"Or if I bring a plague into that land and pour out my fury on it in bloodshed, so that I eliminate both its humans and its animals;

So now it is thrown in the fire as fuel, the fire consumes both ends of it, and the middle of it is singed — is it useful now for making something?

When it was whole, it was good for nothing; so how much less, when the fire has consumed it, and it is singed, will it be useful for making something!

"So Adonai Elohim says this: ‘Like wood from the vine among the trees of the forest, which I consign to the fire as fuel, so I give those living in Yerushalayim.

I will make the land desolate because they have dealt so treacherously,' says Adonai Elohim ."

"‘Again I passed by you, looked at you and saw that your time had come, the time for love. So I spread my cloak over you to cover your private parts and entered into a covenant with you,' says Adonai Elohim , ‘and you became mine.

"‘So, after all this wickedness of yours — woe, woe to you!' says Adonai Elohim —

So now I have stretched out my hand over you, diminished your ration of food and put you at the mercy of those who hate you, the daughters of the P'lishtim, who find your lewd behavior revolting.

"‘You are so weak-willed!' says Adonai Elohim . ‘You do all these things, behaving like a shameless whore,

therefore, look! I am going to gather all your lovers, to whom you have been so very nice, all the ones you hate right along with all the ones you love — I will gather them against you from all over the place and expose your private parts to them, so that they will see you completely naked.

The crimes of your sister S'dom were pride and gluttony; she and her daughters were careless and complacent, so that they did nothing to help the poor and needy.

They were arrogant and committed disgusting acts before me; so that when I saw it, I swept them away.

But you too must bear your disgrace; for by your passing judgment that your sisters were innocent, through your having committed sins worse than theirs, they are shown to be more righteous than you. So be ashamed, and bear the disgrace you deserve for making your [guilty] sisters seem innocent!

so that you can bear your own shame and experience the disgrace you deserve for all you have done to shield them from feeling their own guilt.

When you were so proud, you spoke with contempt about your sister S'dom,

so that you will remember and be so ashamed that you will never open your mouth again, so ashamed will you be when I have forgiven you all that you have done,' says Adonai Elohim ."