Judgment Against Israel

“Hear this, you priests!
    Pay attention, you Israelites!
Listen, royal house!
    This judgment(A) is against you:
You have been a snare(B) at Mizpah,
    a net(C) spread out on Tabor.

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The prophet, along with my God,
    is the watchman over Ephraim,[a]
yet snares(A) await him on all his paths,
    and hostility in the house of his God.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 9:8 Or The prophet is the watchman over Ephraim, / the people of my God

The faithful have been swept from the land;(A)
    not one(B) upright person remains.
Everyone lies in wait(C) to shed blood;(D)
    they hunt each other(E) with nets.(F)

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Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;(A)

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As marauders lie in ambush for a victim,(A)
    so do bands of priests;
they murder(B) on the road to Shechem,
    carrying out their wicked schemes.(C)

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She sent for Barak son of Abinoam(A) from Kedesh(B) in Naphtali and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali(C) and Zebulun(D) and lead them up to Mount Tabor.(E)

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Additional Warning to the Priests

“And now, you priests, this warning is for you.(A)

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15 The wicked(A) foe pulls all of them up with hooks,(B)
    he catches them in his net,(C)
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense(D) to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?(E)

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“The high places(A) of Isaac will be destroyed
    and the sanctuaries(B) of Israel will be ruined;
    with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.(C)

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15 So will it happen to you, Bethel,
    because your wickedness is great.
When that day dawns,
    the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.(A)

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11 Ephraim’s glory(A) will fly away like a bird(B)
    no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(C)
12 Even if they rear children,
    I will bereave(D) them of every one.
Woe(E) to them
    when I turn away from them!(F)
13 I have seen Ephraim,(G) like Tyre,
    planted in a pleasant place.(H)
But Ephraim will bring out
    their children to the slayer.”(I)

14 Give them, Lord
    what will you give them?
Give them wombs that miscarry
    and breasts that are dry.(J)

15 “Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal,(K)
    I hated them there.
Because of their sinful deeds,(L)
    I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;(M)
    all their leaders are rebellious.(N)
16 Ephraim(O) is blighted,
    their root is withered,
    they yield no fruit.(P)
Even if they bear children,
    I will slay(Q) their cherished offspring.”

17 My God will reject(R) them
    because they have not obeyed(S) him;
    they will be wanderers among the nations.(T)

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The Charge Against Israel

Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites,
    because the Lord has a charge(A) to bring
    against you who live in the land:(B)
“There is no faithfulness,(C) no love,
    no acknowledgment(D) of God in the land.(E)

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12 Jehoram received a letter from Elijah(A) the prophet, which said:

“This is what the Lord, the God of your father(B) David, says: ‘You have not followed the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or of Asa(C) king of Judah. 13 But you have followed the ways of the kings of Israel, and you have led Judah and the people of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, just as the house of Ahab did.(D) You have also murdered your own brothers, members of your own family, men who were better(E) than you. 14 So now the Lord is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives and everything that is yours, with a heavy blow. 15 You yourself will be very ill with a lingering disease(F) of the bowels, until the disease causes your bowels to come out.’”

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18 “Go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He is now in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone to take possession of it. 19 Say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Have you not murdered a man and seized his property?’(A) Then say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: In the place where dogs licked up Naboth’s blood,(B) dogs(C) will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”

20 Ahab said to Elijah, “So you have found me, my enemy!”(D)

“I have found you,” he answered, “because you have sold(E) yourself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. 21 He says, ‘I am going to bring disaster on you. I will wipe out your descendants and cut off from Ahab every last male(F) in Israel—slave or free.[a](G) 22 I will make your house(H) like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have aroused my anger and have caused Israel to sin.’(I)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 21:21 Or Israel—every ruler or leader

Breaking Covenant Through Blemished Sacrifices

“A son honors his father,(A) and a slave his master.(B) If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect(C) due me?” says the Lord Almighty.(D)

“It is you priests who show contempt for my name.

“But you ask,(E) ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’

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Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,

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Like a bear robbed of her cubs,(A)
    I will attack them and rip them open;
like a lion(B) I will devour them—
    a wild animal will tear them apart.(C)

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    my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.(A)

“Because you have rejected knowledge,
    I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law(B) of your God,
    I also will ignore your children.
The more priests there were,
    the more they sinned against me;
    they exchanged their glorious God[a](C) for something disgraceful.(D)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 4:7 Syriac (see also an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition); Masoretic Text me; / I will exchange their glory

18 “As surely as I live,” declares the King,(A)
    whose name is the Lord Almighty,
“one will come who is like Tabor(B) among the mountains,
    like Carmel(C) by the sea.

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“They delight the king with their wickedness,
    the princes with their lies.(A)
They are all adulterers,(B)
    burning like an oven
whose fire the baker need not stir
    from the kneading of the dough till it rises.
On the day of the festival of our king
    the princes become inflamed with wine,(C)
    and he joins hands with the mockers.(D)

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Judgment Against Wicked Kings

22 This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the palace of the king(A) of Judah and proclaim this message there: ‘Hear(B) the word of the Lord to you, king of Judah, you who sit on David’s throne(C)—you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.(D) This is what the Lord says: Do what is just(E) and right. Rescue from the hand of the oppressor(F) the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow,(G) and do not shed innocent blood(H) in this place. For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings(I) who sit on David’s throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. But if you do not obey(J) these commands, declares the Lord, I swear(K) by myself that this palace will become a ruin.’”

For this is what the Lord says about the palace of the king of Judah:

“Though you are like Gilead(L) to me,
    like the summit of Lebanon,(M)
I will surely make you like a wasteland,(N)
    like towns not inhabited.
I will send destroyers(O) against you,
    each man with his weapons,
and they will cut(P) up your fine cedar beams
    and throw them into the fire.(Q)

“People from many nations will pass by this city and will ask one another, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?’(R) And the answer will be: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshiped and served other gods.(S)’”

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18 Say to the king(A) and to the queen mother,(B)
    “Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns(C)
    will fall from your heads.”

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Go, tell Jeroboam that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:(A) ‘I raised you up from among the people and appointed you ruler(B) over my people Israel. I tore(C) the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you, but you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commands and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right(D) in my eyes. You have done more evil(E) than all who lived before you.(F) You have made for yourself other gods, idols(G) made of metal; you have aroused(H) my anger and turned your back on me.(I)

10 “‘Because of this, I am going to bring disaster(J) on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every last male in Israel—slave or free.[a](K) I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns dung, until it is all gone.(L) 11 Dogs(M) will eat those belonging to Jeroboam who die in the city, and the birds(N) will feed on those who die in the country. The Lord has spoken!’

12 “As for you, go back home. When you set foot in your city, the boy will die. 13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will be buried, because he is the only one in the house of Jeroboam in whom the Lord, the God of Israel, has found anything good.(O)

14 “The Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the family of Jeroboam. Even now this is beginning to happen.[b] 15 And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot(P) Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused(Q) the Lord’s anger by making Asherah(R) poles.[c] 16 And he will give Israel up because of the sins(S) Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Kings 14:10 Or Israel—every ruler or leader
  2. 1 Kings 14:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this sentence is uncertain.
  3. 1 Kings 14:15 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah; here and elsewhere in 1 Kings

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