3 All day long they insult me to my faceby worshiping idols in their sacred gardens.They burn incense on pagan altars.
4 At night they go out among the graves,worshiping the dead.They eat the flesh of pigsand make stews with other forbidden foods.
5 Yet they say to each other,‘Don’t come too close or you will defile me!I am holier than you!’These people are a stench in my nostrils,an acrid smell that never goes away.
6 “Look, my decree is written out in front of me:I will not stand silent;I will repay them in full!Yes, I will repay them—
7 both for their own sinsand for those of their ancestors,”says the lord.“For they also burned incense on the mountainsand insulted me on the hills.I will pay them back in full!
8 “But I will not destroy them all,”says the lord.“For just as good grapes are found among a cluster of bad ones(and someone will say, ‘Don’t throw them all away—some of those grapes are good!’),so I will not destroy all Israel.For I still have true servants there.
9 I will preserve a remnant of the people of Israeland of Judah to possess my land.Those I choose will inherit it,and my servants will live there.