13 For My people have committed a double evil:They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves,cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.
14 Is Israel a slave?Was he born into slavery? Why else has he become a prey?
15 The young lions have roared at him; they have roared loudly.They have laid waste his land. His cities are in ruins, without inhabitants.
16 The men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have also broken your skull.
17 Have you not brought this on yourself by abandoning the Lord your Godwhile He was leading you along the way?
18 Now what will you gainby traveling along the way to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What will you gainby traveling along the way to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your own evil will discipline you; your own apostasies will reprimand you.Think it over and see how evil and bitter it isfor you to abandon the Lord your Godand to have no fear of Me.This is the declarationof the Lord God of Hosts.