Like a muddied ¹  spring and a polluted ²  well, so is a righteous person who gives way ³  before the wicked.

“You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

The filthy, ¹  stained city is as good as dead; the city filled with oppressors is finished! ² 

They shed innocent blood – the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted by bloodshed. ¹ 

You are offering improper sacrifices on my altar, yet you ask, ‘How have we offended you?’ By treating the table ¹  of the Lord as if it is of no importance!

but that we should write them a letter ¹  telling them to abstain ²  from things defiled ³  by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled ⁴  and from blood.

Gilead is a city full of evildoers; ¹  its streets are stained with bloody footprints! ² 

Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land ¹  through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ² 

“But you are profaning it by saying that the table of the Lord is common and its offerings ¹  despicable.

“Look up at the hilltops and consider this. ¹  You have had sex with other gods on every one of them. ²  You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert. ³  You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods. ⁴ 

All the leaders of the priests and people became more unfaithful and committed the same horrible sins practiced by the nations. ¹  They defiled the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

which you commanded us through your servants the prophets with these words: ¹  ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land defiled by the impurities of the local residents! ²  With their abominations they have filled it from one end to the other with their filthiness.

Before I restore them ¹  I will punish them in full ²  for their sins and the wrongs they have done. For they have polluted my land with the lifeless statues of their disgusting idols. They have filled the land I have claimed as my own ³  with their detestable idols.” ⁴ 

“Their mouths are ¹  full of cursing and bitterness.” ² 

The earth is defiled by ¹  its inhabitants, ²  for they have violated laws, disregarded the regulation, ³  and broken the permanent treaty. ⁴ 

I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ¹  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ²  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ³ 

I will do these things to you ¹  because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols.

So I poured my anger on them ¹  because of the blood they shed on the land and because of the idols with which they defiled it. ² 

His forces ¹  will rise up and profane the fortified sanctuary, ²  stopping the daily sacrifice. In its place they will set up ³  the abomination that causes desolation.

But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! ¹  For this land is not secure! ²  Sin will thoroughly destroy it! ³