²² “For my people are foolish;
    they do not know me;
they are stupid children;
    they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil
    but do not know how to do good.”^(A)

⁶ My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge!
    Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you from being a priest to me;
and since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    I also will forget your children.^(A)

¹¹ When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
    women come and make a fire of them.
For this is a people without understanding;
    therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;
    he who formed them will show them no favor.^(A)

²⁸ And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
    and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”^(A)

⁶ Do you thus repay the Lord,
    O foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father who created you,
    who made you and established you?^(A)

¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
    to follow their own counsels.^(A)