'Themselves' in the Bible

Thus says the Lord,“What injustice or unrighteousness did your fathers find in Me,That they have wandered far from MeAnd [habitually] walked after emptiness and futility and became empty?

“For My people have committed two evils:They have abandoned (rejected) Me,The fountain of living water,And they have carved out their own cisterns,Broken cisternsThat cannot hold water.

Or [you have the untamed and reckless nature of] a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness,That sniffs the wind in her passion [for the scent of a mate].In her mating season who can restrain her?No males seeking her need to weary themselves;In her month they will find her [looking for them].

And if you swear [your oaths], ‘As the Lord lives,’In truth, in justice, and in righteousness,Then the nations will bless themselves in Him,And in Him they will glory.”

“Why should I [overlook these offenses and] forgive you?Your children have abandoned (rejected) MeAnd sworn [their oaths] by those who are not gods.When I had fed them until they were full [and bound them to Me by a promise],They committed [spiritual] adultery,Assembling in troops at the houses of prostitutes (idols).

‘Do you not fear Me?’ says the Lord.‘Do you not tremble [in awe] in My presence?For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,An eternal decree and a perpetual barrier beyond which it cannot pass.Though the waves [of the sea] toss and break, yet they cannot prevail [against the sand ordained to hold them back];Though the waves and the billows roar, yet they cannot cross over [the barrier].[Is not such a God to be feared?]

Do they offend and provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Is it not themselves [they offend], to their own shame?”

“Everyone deceives and mocks his neighborAnd does not speak the truth.They have taught their tongue to speak lies;They exhaust themselves with sin and cruelty.

For the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced evil and horror against you because of the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done to provoke Me [to anger] by offering sacrifices and burning incense to Baal.

“They have planted wheat but have reaped thorns;They have exhausted themselves but without profit.So be ashamed of your harvestBecause of the fierce and raging anger of the Lord.”

“I will make their widows more numerous before MeThan the sand of the seas;I will bring against them, against the mother of the young men,A destroyer at noonday;I will suddenly cause anguish and terrorTo fall on her.

Both great men and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, nor will they be lamented (mourned over with expressions of grief in death), nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them [in mourning].

and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may [reverently] fear Me forever, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

“Have you not noticed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families [Israel the northern kingdom, and Judah the southern kingdom] which the Lord chose, He has rejected’? Thus they despise My [chosen] people, no longer are they [considered] as a nation in their sight.

that eighty men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria with their beards shaved off and their clothes torn and their bodies cut, carrying in their hands grain offerings and incense to present at the [site of the] house of the Lord [in Jerusalem].

“For behold, I will stir up and bring up against BabylonAn assembly of great nations from the north country.They will equip themselves and set up the battle lines against her;From there she will be taken captive.Their arrows will be like an expert warriorWho will not return empty-handed.