Ezekiel 20:17-27

17 Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make an end of them in the wilderness.
18 I said to their children in the wilderness, Do not follow the statutes of your parents, nor observe their ordinances, nor defile yourselves with their idols.
19 I the Lord am your God; follow my statutes, and be careful to observe my ordinances,
20 and hallow my sabbaths that they may be a sign between me and you, so that you may know that I the Lord am your God.
21 But the children rebelled against me; they did not follow my statutes, and were not careful to observe my ordinances, by whose observance everyone shall live; they profaned my sabbaths. Then I thought I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.
22 But I withheld my hand, and acted for the sake of my name, so that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
23 Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries,
24 because they had not executed my ordinances, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their ancestors' idols.
25 Moreover I gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
26 I defiled them through their very gifts, in their offering up all their firstborn, in order that I might horrify them, so that they might know that I am the Lord.
27 Therefore, mortal, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: In this again your ancestors blasphemed me, by dealing treacherously with me.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.