24
People of Israel, what can I do with you? People of Judah, you refuse to obey me. So I will turn to other nations and make them my people. They will keep my laws.
25
Because you have abandoned me, I will abandon you. You will beg me for mercy, but I will show you none.
26
When you pray to me, I will not hear you. You never hesitate to commit murder; your hands are stained with the blood of those you have killed.
27
It is not me that you have betrayed; you have betrayed yourselves.
28
"The Lord Almighty says: I have pleaded with you as a father pleads with his sons, as a mother pleads with her daughters, or as a nursemaid pleads with her small children.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.