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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.

A divine taunt

    Come to Bethel—and commit a crime;
        multiply crimes at Gilgal.
    Bring your sacrifices every morning,
        your tenth-part gifts every three days.
    Offer a thanksgiving sacrifice of leavened bread,
        and publicize your gifts to the Lord;
        for so you love to do, people of Israel!
says the Lord God.

Israel’s stubbornness

    I have sent a famine in all your cities,
        and not provided enough bread in all your places,
        yet you didn’t return to me,
says the Lord.
    I also withheld rain from you
        when there were still three months to the harvest.
    I allowed rain to fall on one city,
        no rain to fall on another city.
    One field was rained on,
        and the field dried up where it didn’t rain.
    So two or three thirsty towns went to one city to drink water, and weren’t satisfied;
        yet you didn’t return to me,
says the Lord.

    I struck you with disease and mildew.
        I destroyed your gardens and your vineyards.
    The locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
        yet you didn’t return to me,
says the Lord.

10 I sent a plague against you like the one in Egypt.
        I killed your young men with the sword.
    I carried away your horses.
        I made the stink of your camp go up into your nostrils;
        yet you didn’t return to me,
says the Lord.

11 I destroyed some of you,
        as when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
    You were like a burning coal plucked out of the fire;
        yet you didn’t return to me,
says the Lord.
12 Truly, Israel,
    I will act in this way toward you;
        therefore, I will do this to you.
        Prepare to meet your God, Israel!

13 The one who forms the mountains, creates the wind,
        makes known his thoughts to humankind,
    makes the morning darkness,
        and moves over the heights of the earth—
        the Lord, the God of heavenly forces is his name!

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