The Daily Audio Bible

Eternal One: I am bringing charges against everyone who lives in your land
        because there’s no truth and no faithfulness and no knowledge of God in the land.
²     There is only cursing and lying and killing and stealing and adultery—
        so that one act of bloodshed follows right after another.
³     It’s because you’re breaking My most basic directives
        that the land will mourn with grief and even dry up like a desert plant.
        Those dwelling in it waste away,
    As the wild animals, the flying birds, and the swimming fish are all dying.

⁴     Be careful in bringing these charges and contending with one another,
        for this is My charge against you,
        you priests—I have a divine contention against you!
⁵     You stumble around during the day, and the prophets stumble with you at night.
        And so I will destroy your mother, the land where you live.
⁶     You’ve forgotten the law of your God: you’ve rejected My judgments.
    I’ll reject you because of your lack of knowledge—reject you as My priests;
        I’ll even forget your children!

⁷     The more powerful the priests grew, the more they sinned against Me.
        So I’ll turn their honor^[a] into shame.
⁸     Because these priests are allowed to eat the sin offerings,
        they actually want the people to sin so they’ll have more meat to eat!
⁹     And so it’s “like priest, like people”: a low standard for living.
        I’ll punish them for this and repay them for what they’ve done:
¹⁰     They’ll eat, but they won’t be satisfied; they’ll be active like whores, but have no children
        because they’ve rebelled in guarding Me and My ways.

¹¹     Through prostitution, wine, and new wine,
        My people have lost their senses;
¹²     They expect to hear oracles from a wooden idol,
        to get guidance from a diviner’s wand!
    For a spirit of prostitution is leading them astray—
        that’s why they’re so unfaithful to their God and are becoming prostitutes.
¹³     They offer sacrifices on the mountain tops
        and burn incense on the hills,
    Gathering under sacred trees like oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
        relaxing in their comforting shade.
    This is why your own daughters become prostitutes
        and your daughters-in-law commit adultery!
¹⁴     I won’t punish your daughters for their prostitution
        or your daughters-in-law for their adultery,
    Because you men are visiting common prostitutes yourselves
        and offering sacrifices with cultic prostitutes.
    My people have no understanding, and they’re being ruined!

¹⁵     But even though Israel is being so unfaithful,
        don’t you become guilty, too, Judah!
        Don’t go to Gilgal, and don’t go to that “house of wickedness,” Beth-aven.
        Don’t swear by My name while you’re worshiping other gods!
¹⁶     The people of Israel are stubborn, just like heifers,
        so how can I shepherd them like lambs in a pasture?
¹⁷     Ephraim is allied with idols;
        don’t have anything to do with him!^[b]
18     When they’ve finished drinking, they turn to prostitution to sate their thirst.
        Their rulers love shame rather than living decently.^[c]
19     They’ll be swept away by the wind,
        and they’ll be ashamed of the way they sacrificed to idols.

5 Eternal One: Hear this, you priests! Pay attention, you leaders of Israel!
        Hear all of you in the royal court, My judgment is against you!
    You’ve been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Mount Tabor;
        you’ve led the people astray:
²     Those who have revolted against Me have dug a deep pit of slaughter,
        so I’m going to punish all of you.

³     I know Ephraim; Israel isn’t hiding from Me.
        Even now Ephraim plays the part of a whore;
        Israel is covering herself in impurity.
⁴     They’re so caught up in their way of life
        that they can’t return to their God.
    They have a spirit of prostitution within them,
        so they don’t know Me; I am the Eternal One.

⁵     The pride of Israel testifies against her to her very face.
        Israel (which is called Ephraim) will stagger because of its guilt.
        Judah, too, will stagger with them.
⁶     They’ll go with their flocks and their herds to seek Me,
        offering a multitude of sacrifices, but they won’t find Me because they are abandoned.
⁷     They’ve been unfaithful to Me, the Eternal,
        and produced defiled, illegitimate children.
    Now at a new moon, a foreign nation will devour them and their fields.

⁸     Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah,
        sound the trumpet in Ramah, and raise a war cry in Beth-aven.
    Even as your cities fall, Benjamin, more armies are behind you!
⁹     Ephraim will be devastated when they are punished with this invasion from the south.
        (This is sure to happen, and I’m announcing it to all the tribes of Israel!)
¹⁰     But I’ll also punish the leaders of Judah—
        I’ll pour out My wrath on them like water—
    Because they’re trying to snatch this territory of Benjamin’s.
        They’ve become like the dishonest people who move boundary-stones.
¹¹     Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by punishment,
        because he insists on pursuing empty ways and trusting others to save him.

¹²     In My judgments I’m like a disease that devours Ephraim as a moth eats wool,
        like an infected wound to the people of Judah.
¹³     But when Ephraim saw how sick he was
        and Judah saw his open sore,
    Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to the great king for relief.
        But a foreign ruler can’t cure you; he can’t heal your sore.

¹⁴     I’ll be like a lion to Ephraim,
        like a young lion to the people of Judah.
    I’ll tear them to pieces myself and make off with My kill.
        I’ll carry it away, and no one will be able to take it from Me.
¹⁵     I’ll go back to My lair and stay there until they admit their guilt and come looking for Me.
        In their distress, they’ll desperately try to find Me.

⁹ When the wise go to court against a fool,
    there will be ranting and raving but no resolution.

¹⁰ Bloodthirsty men despise those who are honest,
    but the just find a way to help them.

¹¹ A fool does not think before he unleashes his temper,
    but a wise man holds back and remains quiet.