"Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the LORD from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place.

When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights. I did not eat bread or drink water.

The LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the 40 days and 40 nights.

The LORD also said to me, 'I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people.

"So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

So I took hold of the tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.

I was afraid of the fierce anger the LORD had directed against you, because He was about to destroy you. But again, the LORD listened to me on that occasion.

I took the sinful calf you had made, burned it up, and crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as [fine as] dust. Then I threw it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

When I bring them into the land I swore to [give] their fathers, [a land] flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising Me and breaking My covenant.

For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are rebelling against the LORD now, while I am still alive, how much more [will you rebel] after I am dead!

For I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future, because you will do what is evil in the LORD's sight, infuriating Him with what your hands have made."

But our ancestors acted arrogantly; they became stiff-necked and did not listen to Your commands.

They refused to listen and did not remember Your wonders You performed among them. They became stiff-necked and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in faithful love, and You did not abandon them.

But they were disobedient and rebelled against You. They flung Your law behind their backs and killed Your prophets who warned them to turn them back to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

But as soon as they had relief, they again did what was evil in Your sight. So You abandoned them to the power of their enemies, who dominated them. When they cried out to You again, You heard from heaven and rescued them many times in Your compassion.

You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit warned them through Your prophets, but they would not listen. Therefore, You handed them over to the surrounding peoples.

Then they would not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

They did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by His law.

"But they rebelled against Me and were unwilling to listen to Me. None of them threw away the detestable things that were before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I considered pouring out My wrath on them, exhausting My anger against them within the land of Egypt.

"But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances-- the person who does them will live by them. They also completely profaned My Sabbaths. So I considered pouring out My wrath on them in the wilderness to put an end to them.

"But the children rebelled against Me. They did not follow My statutes or carefully keep My ordinances-- the person who does them will live by them. They also profaned My Sabbaths. So I considered pouring out My wrath on them and exhausting My anger against them in the wilderness.

When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices and presented their offensive offerings there. They also sent up their pleasing aromas and poured out their drink offerings there.

Therefore you are witnesses that you approve the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their monuments.

so that this generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world--

"You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always resisting the Holy Spirit; as your forefathers did, so do you.

Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They even killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.

"But if they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers-- their unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, and how they acted with hostility toward Me,

then I will remember My covenant with Jacob. I will also remember My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

But from there, you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find [Him] when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul.

He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the LORD your God is a compassionate God.

"When all these things happen to you-- the blessings and curses I have set before you-- and you come to your senses [while you are] in all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,

then He will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition You in their captors' land: "We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,"

may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.

Please remember what You commanded Your servant Moses: "[If] you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.

But if you return to Me and carefully observe My commands, even though your exiles were banished to the ends of the earth, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place where I chose to have My name dwell."

Seek the LORD while He may be found; call to Him while He is near.

Let the wicked one abandon his way, and the sinful one his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, so He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will freely forgive.

Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say: Return, unfaithful Israel. [This is] the LORD's declaration. I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in My love. [This is] the LORD's declaration. I will not be angry forever.

"Return, you faithless children"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration-- "for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

"Therefore, house of Israel, I will judge each one of you according to his ways." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God. "Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so they will not be a stumbling block that causes your punishment.

For I take no pleasure in anyone's death." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God. "So repent and live!

Israel, return to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled in your sin.

So tell the people: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Return to Me"-- [this is] the declaration of the LORD of Hosts-- "and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, double-minded people!

"Your words against Me are harsh," says the LORD. Yet you ask: "What have we spoken against You?"

"A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me? says the LORD of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name." Yet you ask: "How have we despised Your name?"

I spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people who walk in the wrong path, following their own thoughts.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every impurity.

He longed to eat his fill from the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one would give him any.

Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life

Because they disregarded the righteousness from God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God's righteousness.

But to Israel he says: All day long I have spread out My hands to a disobedient and defiant people.