³ Son of man, say to the responsible men of Israel, This is what the Lord has said: Have you come to get directions from me? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no directions from me.

⁷ And the seers will be shamed, and the readers of the future will be at a loss, all of them covering their lips; for there is no answer from God.

²⁴ God is Spirit: then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.

⁷ So he said to the people who went out to him for baptism: You offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?

⁸ These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

⁹ But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men.

⁷ But when he saw a number of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?

³¹ And when you give your offerings, causing your sons to go through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your images to this day; and will you come to me for directions, O children of Israel? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no direction from me.

⁷ When any one of the men of Israel, or of those from other lands who are living in Israel, who has become strange to me, and takes his false gods into his heart, and puts before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, comes to the prophet to get directions from me; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself:

⁸ And my face will be turned against that man, and I will make him a sign and a common saying, cutting him off from among my people; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

³ Son of man, these men have taken their false gods into their hearts and put before their faces the sin which is the cause of their fall: am I to give ear when they come to me for directions?

⁴ For this cause say to them, These are the words of the Lord: Every man of Israel who has taken his false god into his heart, and put before his face the sin which is the cause of his fall, and comes to the prophet; I the Lord will give him an answer by myself in agreement with the number of his false gods;

¹⁵ And when your hands are stretched out to me, my eyes will be turned away from you: even though you go on making prayers, I will not give ear: your hands are full of blood.

¹² At whose request do you come before me, making my house unclean with your feet?

⁹ As for the man whose ear is turned away from hearing the law, even his prayer is disgusting.

²⁷ The offering of evil-doers is disgusting: how much more when they give it with an evil purpose!

⁸ The offering of the evil-doer is disgusting to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright man is his delight.

¹⁵ Let your voice come up to me in the day of trouble; I will be your saviour, so that you may give glory to me.

¹⁶ But to the sinner, God says, What are you doing, talking of my laws, or taking the words of my agreement in your mouth?

¹⁷ Seeing that you have no desire for my teaching, turning your back on my words.

¹⁸ When you saw a thief, you were in agreement with him, and you were joined with those who took other men's wives.

¹⁹ You have given your mouth to evil, your tongue to words of deceit.

²⁰ You say evil of your brother; you make false statements against your mother's son.

²¹ These things have you done, and I said nothing; it seemed to you that I was such a one as yourself; but I will make a protest against you, and put them in order before your eyes.

⁶ And when Saul went for directions to the Lord, the Lord gave him no answer, by a dream or by the Urim or by the prophets.