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“Go to Bethel, and sin;
    to Gilgal, and sin more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
    your tithes every three days,
    offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
    and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them:
    for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.
“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
    and lack of bread in every town;
    yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
“I also have withheld the rain from you,
    when there were yet three months to the harvest;
    and I caused it to rain on one city,
    and caused it not to rain on another city.
One field was rained on,
    and the field where it didn’t rain withered.
So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water,
    and were not satisfied:
    yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards;
    and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
    yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
10 “I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt.
    I have slain your young men with the sword,
    and have carried away your horses;
    and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp,
    yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
11 “I have overthrown some of you,
    as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire;
    yet you haven’t returned to me,” says Yahweh.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, Israel;
    because I will do this to you,
    prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13 For, behold, he who forms the mountains,
    and creates the wind,
    and declares to man what is his thought;
    who makes the morning darkness,
    and treads on the high places of the earth:
    Yahweh, the God of Armies, is his name.”

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“Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel.
    Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.
Offer sacrifices each morning,
    and bring your tithes every three days.
Present your bread made with yeast
    as an offering of thanksgiving.
Then give your extra voluntary offerings
    so you can brag about it everywhere!
This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do,”
    says the Sovereign Lord.

“I brought hunger to every city
    and famine to every town.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

“I kept the rain from falling
    when your crops needed it the most.
I sent rain on one town
    but withheld it from another.
Rain fell on one field,
    while another field withered away.
People staggered from town to town looking for water,
    but there was never enough.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

“I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.
    Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

10 “I sent plagues on you
    like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
I killed your young men in war
    and led all your horses away.[a]
    The stench of death filled the air!
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

11 “I destroyed some of your cities,
    as I destroyed[b] Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived
    were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But still you would not return to me,”
    says the Lord.

12 “Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.
    Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”

13 For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains,
    stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind.
He turns the light of dawn into darkness
    and treads on the heights of the earth.
    The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is his name!

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Footnotes

  1. 4:10 Or and slaughtered your captured horses.
  2. 4:11 Hebrew as when God destroyed.