The ruined vine

20For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, but you said, “I will not serve.” Indeed, on every high hill and under every leafy tree, you lay down as a prostitute.

21Yet I planted you as a choice vine, entirely of genuine stock. How then have you become to me the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?

22Even if you wash with natron and use plenty of lye, the stain of your guilt remains before me, declares the Lord Yahweh.

23How can you say, “I have not defiled myself; I have not followed the Baals”? Look at your conduct in the valley; recognize what you have done! You are a swift young she-camel, crisscrossing her tracks.

24Driven by desire, a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness sniffs the wind. Who can restrain her when she is in heat? Those who seek her need not exhaust themselves; in her mating season they will find her.

25Stop this pursuit before your feet are bare and your throat is parched. But you said, “It is no use! No, I love strangers, and I will go after them.”