Thus says Yahweh: "What injustice did your ancestors find in me that they were far from me, and they went after the vanity, and they became vain?

"For {in vain} I have struck your children. They accepted no discipline. Your sword devoured your prophets, like a ravening lion.

And you, devastated one, what [do] you do, that you put on crimson, that you adorn yourself [with] ornaments of gold, that you make your eyes look bigger with the eye make-up? In vain you beautify yourself. [Your] lovers reject you; they seek your life.

[The] bellows are burned up, lead is consumed by fire. {In vain} {he keeps on refining}, but [the] wicked are not torn apart.

Go up [to] Gilead and take balm, O virgin of the daughter of Egypt. {In vain} you make use of many medicines; there is no healing for you.