My people ask counsel from their wooden idols, And their staff informs them. For the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray, And they have played the harlot against their God.

我的民求问木偶，以为木杖能指示他们；因为他们的淫心使他们失迷，他们就行淫离弃神，不守约束，

我的百姓求问木偶，以为木杖能指示他们；淫乱的心使他们失迷，以致行淫离弃他们的上帝，

我的百姓求问木偶，以为木杖能指示他们；淫乱的心使他们失迷，以致行淫离弃他们的神，

“我的子民祈求木头，随从木杖的指引。淫乱的心使他们走入歧途，他们不忠不贞，背弃他们的上帝。

我的子民求问木头，由木杖引导他们，因为淫荡的灵使他们走迷了路，他们就行淫不顺从神。

我的民求問木偶，以為木杖能指示他們；因為他們的淫心使他們失迷，他們就行淫離棄神，不守約束，

我的百姓求問木偶，以為木杖能指示他們；淫亂的心使他們失迷，以致行淫離棄他們的上帝，

我的百姓求問木偶，以為木杖能指示他們；淫亂的心使他們失迷，以致行淫離棄他們的神，

「我的子民祈求木頭，隨從木杖的指引。淫亂的心使他們走入歧途，他們不忠不貞，背棄他們的上帝。

我的子民求問木頭，由木杖引導他們，因為淫蕩的靈使他們走迷了路，他們就行淫不順從神。

他們求問着木頭，其指揮棍就指示他們；因為行淫的心使他們失迷，他們就行淫、離棄了他們的上帝、不肯在他手下。

我民諮詢於木、藉杖示之、彼為淫心所迷、狥欲離其上帝之制、

我民縱欲、棄我上帝、厥心昏昧、問偶像、卜以籤、望其應對、

我民諮諏木偶、以為其杖能指示未來事、被淫心迷惑、被淫心迷惑或作因其心被邪淫迷惑皆棄其天主、從偶像、偶像或作邪淫

My people consult a wooden idol, and a diviner’s rod speaks to them. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.

My people ask a wooden statue of a god for advice. They get answers from a stick of wood. They are as unfaithful as prostitutes. They are not faithful to their God.

My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore.

They ask a piece of wood for advice! They think a stick can tell them the future! Longing after idols has made them foolish. They have played the prostitute, serving other gods and deserting their God.

My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of promiscuity leads them astray; they act promiscuously in disobedience to their God.

My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand informs them; For a spirit of infidelity has led them astray, And they have been unfaithful, departing from their God.

My people ask counsel at their stock, and their staff declareth unto them; for the spirit of whoredom hath caused them to err, and they have played the harlot, departing from under their God.

My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of promiscuity leads them astray; they act promiscuously in disobedience to their God.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused[ them] to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

They consult their wooden idols, and their diviner’s staff answers with an oracle. The wind of prostitution blows them astray; they commit spiritual adultery against their God.

My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.

Saying to a tree,‘ You are my father,’ And to a stone,‘ You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble They will say,‘ Arise and save us.’

“ They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the Lord.

They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand.And no one considers in his heart, Nor is there knowledge nor understanding to say,“ I have burned half of it in the fire, Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals; I have roasted meat and eaten it; And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?”He feeds on ashes; A deceived heart has turned him aside; And he cannot deliver his soul, Nor say,“ Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Woe to him who says to wood,‘ Awake!’ To silent stone,‘ Arise! It shall teach!’ Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all.

And the Lord said to Moses:“ Behold, you will rest with your fathers; and this people will rise and play the harlot with the gods of the foreigners of the land, where they go to be among them, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant which I have made with them.

And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined,

If a man should walk in a false spirit And speak a lie, saying,‘ I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’ Even he would be the prattler of this people.

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with joy like other peoples, For you have played the harlot against your God. You have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

The word of the Lord came again to me, saying:“ Son of man, there were two women, The daughters of one mother.They committed harlotry in Egypt, They committed harlotry in their youth; Their breasts were there embraced, Their virgin bosom was there pressed.Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister; They were Mine, And they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.“ Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine; And she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians,Who were clothed in purple, Captains and rulers, All of them desirable young men, Horsemen riding on horses.Thus she committed her harlotry with them, All of them choice men of Assyria; And with all for whom she lusted, With all their idols, she defiled herself.She has never given up her harlotry brought from Egypt, For in her youth they had lain with her, Pressed her virgin bosom, And poured out their immorality upon her.“ Therefore I have delivered her Into the hand of her lovers, Into the hand of the Assyrians, For whom she lusted.They uncovered her nakedness, Took away her sons and daughters, And slew her with the sword; She became a byword among women, For they had executed judgment on her.“ Now although her sister Oholibah saw this, she became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister’s harlotry.“ She lusted for the neighboring Assyrians, Captains and rulers, Clothed most gorgeously, Horsemen riding on horses, All of them desirable young men.Then I saw that she was defiled; Both took the same way.But she increased her harlotry; She looked at men portrayed on the wall, Images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,Girded with belts around their waists, Flowing turbans on their heads, All of them looking like captains, In the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, The land of their nativity.As soon as her eyes saw them, She lusted for them And sent messengers to them in Chaldea.“ Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, And they defiled her with their immorality; So she was defiled by them, and alienated herself from them.She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness. Then I alienated Myself from her, As I had alienated Myself from her sister.“ Yet she multiplied her harlotry In calling to remembrance the days of her youth, When she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.For she lusted for her paramours, Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, And whose issue is like the issue of horses.Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, When the Egyptians pressed your bosom Because of your youthful breasts.“ Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD:‘ Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, From whom you have alienated yourself, And I will bring them against you from every side:The Babylonians, All the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, All the Assyrians with them, All of them desirable young men, Governors and rulers, Captains and men of renown, All of them riding on horses.And they shall come against you With chariots, wagons, and war-horses, With a horde of people. They shall array against you Buckler, shield, and helmet all around.‘ I will delegate judgment to them, And they shall judge you according to their judgments.I will set My jealousy against you, And they shall deal furiously with you; They shall remove your nose and your ears, And your remnant shall fall by the sword; They shall take your sons and your daughters, And your remnant shall be devoured by fire.They shall also strip you of your clothes And take away your beautiful jewelry.‘ Thus I will make you cease your lewdness and your harlotry Brought from the land of Egypt, So that you will not lift your eyes to them, Nor remember Egypt anymore.’“ For thus says the Lord God:‘ surely I will deliver you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom you alienated yourself.They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry.I will do these things to you because you have gone as a harlot after the Gentiles, because you have become defiled by their idols.You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her cup in your hand.’“ Thus says the Lord GOD:‘ You shall drink of your sister’s cup, The deep and wide one; You shall be laughed to scorn And held in derision; It contains much.You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, The cup of horror and desolation, The cup of your sister Samaria.You shall drink and drain it, You shall break its shards, And tear at your own breasts; For I have spoken,’ Says the Lord GOD.“ Therefore thus says the Lord God:‘ Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, Therefore you shall bear the penalty Of your lewdness and your harlotry.’”The Lord also said to me:“ Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them.Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths.For after they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and indeed thus they have done in the midst of My house.“ Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.You sat on a stately couch, with a table prepared before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil.The sound of a carefree multitude was with her, and Sabeans were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries,‘ Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?’Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women.But righteous men will judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.“ For thus says the Lord GOD:‘ Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to trouble and plunder.The assembly shall stone them with stones and execute them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.Thus I will cause lewdness to cease from the land, that all women may be taught not to practice your lewdness.They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God.’”

For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.

“ They say,‘ If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.“ Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness; And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness.Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; You refuse to be ashamed.

But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.

They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever for them throughout their generations.”’

then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father’s household, who were better than yourself,

Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,“ Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,and say,‘ Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem:“ Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.“ And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood,‘ Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood,‘ Live!’I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.“ When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine,” says the Lord God.“ Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck.And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord GOD.“ But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them.Also My food which I gave you— the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you— you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord GOD.“ Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.“ Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘ Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord GOD—that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street.You built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry.You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger.“ Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.“ How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God,“ seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.“ You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”‘ Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord!Thus says the Lord GOD:“ Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy.I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.“ They shall also bring up an assembly against you, and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords.They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.So I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more.Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but agitated Me with all these things, surely I will also recompense your deeds on your own head,” says the Lord GOD.“ And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.“ Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you:‘ Like mother, like daughter!’You are your mother’s daughter, loathing husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.“ Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters.You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.“ As I live,” says the Lord God,“ neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.“ Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done.You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.“ When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back the captives of your captivity among them,that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when you comforted them.When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state.For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride,before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and of the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere.You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord.For thus says the Lord GOD:“ I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the covenant.“ Nevertheless I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of My covenant with you.And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord,that you may remember and be ashamed, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.’”

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,

For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks at the liver.