The answer will come back, “It is because they broke their covenant with the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods.”

Then they cried out to the Lord and admitted, ¹  ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the Lord and have served the Baals and the images of Ashtoreth. ²  Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies so that we may serve you.’ ³ 

For the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” ²  a psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? ³  I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. ⁴ 

“Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, ¹  and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water.”

You are the one in whom Israel may find hope. ¹  All who leave you will suffer shame. Those who turn away from you ²  will be consigned to the nether world. ³  For they have rejected you, the Lord, the fountain of life. ⁴ 

At ¹  about three o’clock Jesus shouted with a loud voice, ²  “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³ 

But as for us, the Lord is our God and we have not rejected him. Aaron’s descendants serve as the Lord’s priests and the Levites assist them with the work. ¹ 

In one day King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel killed 120,000 warriors in Judah, because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors. ¹ 

So I registered a complaint with the leaders, asking “Why is the temple of God neglected?” Then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions. ¹ 

For the fortress is neglected; the once-crowded ¹  city is abandoned. Hill ²  and watchtower are permanently uninhabited. ³  Wild donkeys love to go there, and flocks graze there. ⁴ 

At the sound of the approaching horsemen and archers the people of every town will flee. Some of them will hide in the thickets. Others will climb up among the rocks. All the cities will be deserted. No one will remain in them.

“I will abandon my nation. ¹  I will forsake the people I call my own. ²  I will turn my beloved people ³  over to the power ⁴  of their enemies.

“The virgin ¹  Israel has fallen down and will not get up again. She is abandoned on her own land with no one to help her get up.” ² 

“The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you ¹  in everything you undertake ²  until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. ³ 

So Edom has remained free from Judah’s control to this very day. ¹  At that same time Libnah also rebelled and freed themselves from Judah’s control ²  because Jehoram ³  rejected the Lord God of his ancestors.

This will happen because they have abandoned me and offered sacrifices ¹  to other gods, angering me with all the idols they have made. ²  My anger will ignite against this place and will not be extinguished!’”

The Lord asked, ¹  “How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem? ²  Your people ³  have rejected me and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all. ⁴  Even though I supplied all their needs, ⁵  they were like an unfaithful wife to me. ⁶  They went flocking ⁷  to the houses of prostitutes. ⁸ 

The Israelites cried out for help to the Lord: “We have sinned against you. We abandoned our God and worshiped ¹  the Baals.”

You who tear yourself ¹  to pieces in your anger, will the earth be abandoned ²  for your sake? Or will a rock be moved from its place? ³ 

“Indeed, the Lord will call you back like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, ¹  like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.