God’s charges against Israel
4
📚Hear the word of the LORD✭,you children of Israel;
for the LORD has a controversy✭
to bring with the inhabitants of the land:
“For there is no faithfulness✭,
or mercy✭,
or knowledge✭ of God in the land,
2 📚but swearing✭, and lying,
and killing, and stealing,
and committing adultery.
They use violence, and bloodshed
follows bloodshed✭.
3 📚✭Therefore the land will mourn,
and everyone who lives in it
will waste away,
along with the beasts of the field
and the birds of the sky;
yes, the fish in the sea will
also be taken away.
4 📚✭“But let no man strive,
or rebuke another;
for your people are like
those who strive with the priest✭.
5 📚Therefore you will stumble in the day,
and the prophet also✭ will stumble
with you in the night✭,
and I will destroy your mother✭.
6 📚✭My people are destroyed for
lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge✭,
I will also reject you,
so that you will not be a priest for me.
Since you have forgotten the law✭
of your God,
I will also forget your children✭.
7 📚✭The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
therefore I will change
their glory into shame.
8 📚✭They feed on the sin of my people,
and they set their heart on their evil.
9 📚✭And it will be,
‘Like people, like priest’;
and I will punish them for their ways,
and repay✭ them for their deeds.
10 📚For they will eat,
but not have enough✭. They will engage in prostitution✭,
but shall not increase;
because they have stopped
obeying the LORD.
11 📚Prostitution and wine✭
and new wine take away the heart.
12 📚My people ask counsel
from their wooden idols, ✭
and get their answers from their rod
of divination.
For the spirit of prostitution✭ has caused
them to go astray,
and they have given themselves
to prostitution against their God.
13 📚They sacrifice on the tops
of the mountains,
and burn incense on the hills✭,
under oaks and poplars
and terebinths,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters engage
in prostitution
and your brides commit adultery.
14 📚✭“I will not punish your daughters
when they engage in prostitution,
or your brides when they commit adultery,
because the men themselves go off
with harlots and offer sacrifices
with temple prostitutes✭.
So a people without understanding✭
fall into ruin.
15 📚✭“Though you,
Israel, act like a prostitute,
let not Judah offend.
So do not come to Gilgal,
nor go up to Beth-Aven✭,
nor swear,
‘As the LORD lives✭.’
16 📚For Israel is as stubborn✭
as a rebellious heifer✭.
How can the LORD pasture them
like a lamb✭ in a large field?
17 📚Ephraim✭ is joined to idols;
let him alone✭.
18 📚✭Their drink is sour;
they give themselves to prostitution
continually;
her rulers love shamefully,
saying, ‘Give!’
19 📚The wind✭ wraps her up in its wings,
and they will be put to shame✭
because of their sacrifices.