⁹ The Lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah,
    there has been only sin and more sin!
You have made no progress whatsoever.
    Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?

⁹ The things my people do are as depraved
    as what they did in Gibeah long ago.
God will not forget.
    He will surely punish them for their sins.

⁴ They are all adulterers,
    always aflame with lust.
They are like an oven that is kept hot
    while the baker is kneading the dough.
⁵ On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
    carousing with those who mock them.
⁶ Their hearts are like an oven
    blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolders^[a] through the night,
    and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.
⁷ Burning like an oven,
    they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
    and no one cries to me for help.

⁷ “How can I pardon you?
    For even your children have turned from me.
They have sworn by gods that are not gods at all!
    I fed my people until they were full.
But they thanked me by committing adultery
    and lining up at the brothels.
⁸ They are well-fed, lusty stallions,
    each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.