Add parallel Print Page Options

18 When the rulers of Israel finish their drinking,
    off they go to find some prostitutes.
    They love shame more than honor.[a]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 4:18 As in Greek version; the meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

11 You rulers make decisions based on bribes;
    you priests teach God’s laws only for a price;
you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid.
    Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord.
“No harm can come to us,” you say,
    “for the Lord is here among us.”

Read full chapter

Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil!
    Officials and judges alike demand bribes.
The people with influence get what they want,
    and together they scheme to twist justice.

Read full chapter

12 For I know the vast number of your sins
    and the depth of your rebellions.
You oppress good people by taking bribes
    and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

Read full chapter

10 They will eat and still be hungry.
    They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it,
for they have deserted the Lord

Read full chapter

You make vows and break them;
    you kill and steal and commit adultery.
There is violence everywhere—
    one murder after another.

Read full chapter

21 But I was the one who planted you,
    choosing a vine of the purest stock—the very best.
    How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine?

Read full chapter

15 The leech has two suckers
    that cry out, “More, more!”[a]

There are three things that are never satisfied—
    no, four that never say, “Enough!”:
16 the grave,[b]
    the barren womb,
    the thirsty desert,
    the blazing fire.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 30:15 Hebrew two daughters who cry out, “Give, give!”
  2. 30:16 Hebrew Sheol.

The rulers of the world have gathered together
    with the people of the God of Abraham.
For all the kings of the earth belong to God.
    He is highly honored everywhere.

Read full chapter

This disaster came upon the people of Israel because they worshiped other gods. They sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them safely out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. They had followed the practices of the pagan nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them, as well as the practices the kings of Israel had introduced. The people of Israel had also secretly done many things that were not pleasing to the Lord their God. They built pagan shrines for themselves in all their towns, from the smallest outpost to the largest walled city. 10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles at the top of every hill and under every green tree. 11 They offered sacrifices on all the hilltops, just like the nations the Lord had driven from the land ahead of them. So the people of Israel had done many evil things, arousing the Lord’s anger. 12 Yes, they worshiped idols,[a] despite the Lord’s specific and repeated warnings.

13 Again and again the Lord had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: “Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees—the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.”

14 But the Israelites would not listen. They were as stubborn as their ancestors who had refused to believe in the Lord their God. 15 They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the Lord’s command not to imitate them.

16 They rejected all the commands of the Lord their God and made two calves from metal. They set up an Asherah pole and worshiped Baal and all the forces of heaven. 17 They even sacrificed their own sons and daughters in the fire.[b] They consulted fortune-tellers and practiced sorcery and sold themselves to evil, arousing the Lord’s anger.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 17:12 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
  2. 17:17 Or They even made their sons and daughters pass through the fire.

Now testify against me in the presence of the Lord and before his anointed one. Whose ox or donkey have I stolen? Have I ever cheated any of you? Have I ever oppressed you? Have I ever taken a bribe and perverted justice? Tell me and I will make right whatever I have done wrong.”

“No,” they replied, “you have never cheated or oppressed us, and you have never taken even a single bribe.”

Read full chapter

But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.

Read full chapter

32 Their vine grows from the vine of Sodom,
    from the vineyards of Gomorrah.
Their grapes are poison,
    and their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
    the deadly poison of cobras.

Read full chapter

19 You must never twist justice or show partiality. Never accept a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and corrupt the decisions of the godly.

Read full chapter

“Take no bribes, for a bribe makes you ignore something that you clearly see. A bribe makes even a righteous person twist the truth.

Read full chapter

Unfaithful Jerusalem

21 See how Jerusalem, once so faithful,
    has become a prostitute.
Once the home of justice and righteousness,
    she is now filled with murderers.
22 Once like pure silver,
    you have become like worthless slag.
Once so pure,
    you are now like watered-down wine.

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends