“There is no truth or mercy
Or ^(B)knowledge of God in the land.
² By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed ^[b]upon bloodshed.
³ Therefore ^(C)the land will mourn;
And ^(D)everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

⁴ “Now let no man contend, or rebuke another;
For your people are like those ^(E)who contend with the priest.
⁵ Therefore you shall stumble ^(F)in the day;
The prophet also shall stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your mother.
^6 (G)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being priest for Me;
^(H)Because you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children.

⁷ “The more they increased,
The more they sinned against Me;
^(I)I^[c] will change ^[d]their glory into shame.
⁸ They eat up the sin of My people;
They set their ^[e]heart on their iniquity.
⁹ And it shall be: ^(J)like people, like priest.
So I will punish them for their ways,
And ^[f]reward them for their deeds.
¹⁰ For ^(K)they shall eat, but not have enough;
They shall commit harlotry, but not increase;
Because they have ceased obeying the Lord.

¹⁴ “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry,
Nor your brides when they commit adultery;
For the men themselves go apart with harlots,
And offer sacrifices with a ^(Q)ritual harlot.
Therefore people who do not understand will be trampled.

¹⁵ “Though you, Israel, play the harlot,
Let not Judah offend.
^(R)Do not come up to Gilgal,
Nor go up to ^(S)Beth^[h] Aven,
^(T)Nor swear an oath, saying, ‘As the Lord lives’—

¹⁶ “For Israel ^(U)is stubborn
Like a stubborn calf;
Now the Lord will let them forage
Like a lamb in ^[i]open country.

¹⁷ “Ephraim is joined to idols,
^(V)Let him alone.
¹⁸ Their drink ^[j]is rebellion,
They commit harlotry continually.
^(W)Her ^[k]rulers ^[l]dearly love dishonor.
^19 (X)The wind has wrapped her up in its wings,
And ^(Y)they shall be ashamed because of their sacrifices.

⁵ “They^(K) have corrupted themselves;
They are not His children,
Because of their blemish:
A ^(L)perverse and crooked generation.
⁶ Do you thus ^(M)deal^[b] with the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not ^(N)your Father, who ^(O)bought you?
Has He not ^(P)made you and established you?

⁷ “Remember^(Q) the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
^(R)Ask your father, and he will show you;
Your elders, and they will tell you:
⁸ When the Most High ^(S)divided their inheritance to the nations,
When He ^(T)separated the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the peoples
According to the number of the ^[c]children of Israel.
⁹ For ^(U)the Lord’s portion is His people;
Jacob is the place of His inheritance.

¹⁰ “He found him ^(V)in a desert land
And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness;
He encircled him, He instructed him,
He ^(W)kept him as the ^[d]apple of His eye.
^11 (X)As an eagle stirs up its nest,
Hovers over its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its wings,
¹² So the Lord alone led him,
And there was no foreign god with him.

¹³ “He^(Y) made him ride in the heights of the earth,
That he might eat the produce of the fields;
He made him draw honey from the rock,
And oil from the flinty rock;
¹⁴ Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock,
^(Z)With fat of lambs;
And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And you drank wine, the ^(AA)blood of the grapes.

¹⁵ “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked;
^(AB)You grew fat, you grew thick,
You are obese!
Then he ^(AC)forsook God who ^(AD)made him,
And scornfully esteemed the ^(AE)Rock of his salvation.
^16 (AF)They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods;
With ^[e]abominations they provoked Him to anger.
^17 (AG)They sacrificed to demons, not to God,
To gods they did not know,
To new gods, new arrivals
That your fathers did not fear.
^18 (AH)Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful,
And have ^(AI)forgotten the God who fathered you.

¹⁹ “And^(AJ) when the Lord saw it, He spurned them,
Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters.
²⁰ And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see what their end will be,
For they are a perverse generation,
^(AK)Children in whom is no faith.
^21 (AL)They have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They have moved Me to anger ^(AM)by their ^[f]foolish idols.
But ^(AN)I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
²² For ^(AO)a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the ^[g]lowest ^[h]hell;
It shall consume the earth with her increase,
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³ ‘I will ^(AP)heap disasters on them;
^(AQ)I will spend My arrows on them.
²⁴ They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by pestilence and bitter destruction;
I will also send against them the ^(AR)teeth of beasts,
With the poison of serpents of the dust.
²⁵ The sword shall destroy outside;
There shall be terror within
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
^26 (AS)I would have said, “I will dash them in pieces,
I will make the memory of them to cease from among men,”
²⁷ Had I not feared the wrath of the enemy,
Lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
Lest they should say, ^(AT)“Our hand is high;
And it is not the Lord who has done all this.” ’

²⁸ “For they are a nation void of counsel,
Nor is there any understanding in them.
^29 (AU)Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,
That they would consider their ^(AV)latter end!
³⁰ How could one chase a thousand,
And two put ten thousand to flight,
Unless their Rock ^(AW)had sold them,
And the Lord had surrendered them?
³¹ For their rock is not like our Rock,
^(AX)Even our enemies themselves being judges.
³² For ^(AY)their vine is of the vine of Sodom
And of the fields of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of gall,
Their clusters are bitter.
³³ Their wine is ^(AZ)the poison of serpents,
And the cruel ^(BA)venom of cobras.

³⁴ ‘Is this not ^(BB)laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up among My treasures?
^35 (BC)Vengeance is Mine, and recompense;
Their foot shall slip in due time;
^(BD)For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And the things to come hasten upon them.’

³⁶ “For^(BE) the Lord will judge His people
^(BF)And have compassion on His servants,
When He sees that their power is gone,
And ^(BG)there is no one remaining, bond or free.
³⁷ He will say: ^(BH)‘Where are their gods,
The rock in which they sought refuge?
³⁸ Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise and help you,
And be your refuge.

³⁹ ‘Now see that ^(BI)I, even I, am He,
And ^(BJ)there is no God besides Me;
^(BK)I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.
⁴⁰ For I raise My hand to heaven,
And say, “As I live forever,
^41 (BL)If I ^[i]whet My glittering sword,
And My hand takes hold on judgment,
I will render vengeance to My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me.
⁴² I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
And My sword shall devour flesh,
With the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’

⁴³ “Rejoice,^(BM) O Gentiles, with His ^[j]people;
For He will ^(BN)avenge the blood of His servants,
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
He ^(BO)will provide atonement for His land and His people.”

¹⁹ “God^(A) is not a man, that He should lie,
Nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He ^(B)said, and will He not do?
Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?