Why has this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a never-ending backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.

For as the girdle holds fast to the loins of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, says Jehovah; so that they might be to Me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory; but they would not hear.

When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and a grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the plague.

And it happened in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, they called a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.

Declare it in Egypt, and cry it in Migdol, and make it heard in Noph and in Tahpanhes. Say, Stand fast and get ready, the sword shall devour all around you.

The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hurries fast.

So says Jehovah of Hosts: The sons of Israel and the sons of Judah were oppressed together. And all who captured them held them fast; they refused to let them go.