³ Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Is it to inquire of me that ye are come? As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.

⁷ And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.

²⁴ God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

⁷ He said therefore to the multitudes that went out to be baptized of him, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸ This people honoreth me with their lips; But their heart is far from me.

⁹ But in vain do they worship me, Teaching `as their' doctrines the precepts of men.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said unto them, Ye offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

³¹ and when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, do ye pollute yourselves with all your idols unto this day? and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you;

⁷ For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that separateth himself from me, and taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I Jehovah will answer him by myself:

⁸ and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

³ Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

⁴ Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel that taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I Jehovah will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;

¹⁵ And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

¹² When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to trample my courts?

⁹ He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.

²⁷ The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: How much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind!

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to Jehovah; But the prayer of the upright is his delight.

¹⁵ And call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

¹⁶ But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, And that thou hast taken my covenant in thy mouth,

¹⁷ Seeing thou hatest instruction, And castest my words behind thee?

¹⁸ When thou sawest a thief, thou consentedst with him, And hast been partaker with adulterers.

¹⁹ Thou givest thy mouth to evil, And thy tongue frameth deceit.

²⁰ Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; Thou slanderest thine own mother's son.

²¹ These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: `But' I will reprove thee, and set `them' in order before thine eyes.

⁶ And when Saul inquired of Jehovah, Jehovah answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.