The Daily Audio Bible

4 Hear the word of Yahweh, O children of Israel,
for Yahweh has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty,
    there is no knowledge of God in the land.
² Swearing and lying,
    murdering and stealing,
        and adultery break out,^[a]
    and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
³ Therefore the land mourns,
    and all those living in it languish
with the animals of the field,
    and the birds of the heaven,
    and even the fish of the sea
        are being swept away.
⁴ Yet, let no one contend,
    and let no one accuse,
for with you, O priest, is my contention.^[b]
5 You will stumble by day,
    and the priest also will stumble
        with you at night.
And I will destroy your mother;
⁶     My people are destroyed
        for lack of knowledge;
because you have rejected knowledge,
    I reject you from acting as a priest for me.^[c]
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
    I will also forget your children.^[d]
7 When they became many, their sin increased against me;
    they changed^[e] their glory into shame.
⁸ They feed on the sin of my people,^[f]
    they are greedy^[g] for their iniquity.
⁹ And it will be like people, like priest;
I will punish them^[h] for their^[i] ways,
    and I will requite them^[j] for their^[k] deeds.
¹⁰ They will eat and not be satisfied;
    they will play the whore and not multiply,
because they have forsaken Yahweh to devote themselves to
¹¹     whoredom.^[l]
Wine and new wine take away the understanding.^[m]
12     My people,
consult their wooden idols,^[n]
    and their divining rod gives them oracles;
because a spirit of whoredom led them astray,
    and they played the whore from under their God.^[o]
13 On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice,
    and on the hills they make offerings,
under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
    because their^[p] shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
    and all your daughters-in-law^[q] commit adultery.
¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters^[r] when they play the whore,
    or your daughters-in-law^[s] when they commit adultery;
because they go aside with whores,
    and they sacrifice with temple prostitutes,
        a people that does not understand comes to ruin.
¹⁵ Even though you, O Israel, are playing the whore,
    do not let Judah become guilty;
do not enter Gilgal,
    or go up to Beth-aven;
and do not swear,
    “As Yahweh lives!”^[t]
16 Indeed, like a stubborn heifer,
    Israel is stubborn;
Now Yahweh will feed them,
    like a lamb in broad pasture.^[u]
17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
    let him alone.
¹⁸ When their drinking has ended,
    they surely indulge in sexual orgies.
    They love lewdness more than their^[v] glory.
¹⁹ A wind has wrapped them^[w] in its wings,
    and they will be ashamed because of their altars.

5 Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
    Because the judgment applies to you;
because you have been a snare for Mizpah,
    and a net spread out on Tabor;
² they dug a deep pit^[x] in Shittim,
    but I am a punishment for all of them.
³ I myself know Ephraim,
    and Israel is not hidden from me;
because now you have played the whore, O Ephraim—
    Israel is defiled.
⁴ Their deeds do not permit them
    to return them to God.
Because a spirit of whoredom is in their midst,
    they do not know Yahweh.
⁵ The pride of Israel testifies against him,^[y]
    and Israel and Ephraim stumble in their guilt,
        and Judah stumbles with them.
⁶ With their flocks^[z] and herds^[aa] they will go
    to seek Yahweh, but they will not find him;
        he has withdrawn from them.
⁷ They have dealt faithlessly with Yahweh
    because they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.
⁸ Blow the horn^[ab] in Gibeah,
    the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm in Beth-aven;
    look behind you, Benjamin.
⁹ Ephraim will be a desolation
    in the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
    I will reveal what is true.
¹⁰ The princes of Judah have become
    like those who remove a landmark;
on them I will pour out
    my wrath like water.
¹¹ Ephraim is oppressed,
    crushed in judgment,
because he was determined
    to go after filth.^[ac]
12 But I am like a maggot to Ephraim
    and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
¹³ And when Ephraim saw his illness,
    and Judah his wound,
Ephraim went to Assyria,
    he sent to the great king.^[ad]
But he was unable to cure you
    and heal your wound.
¹⁴ Because I will be like a lion to Ephraim
    and like a fierce strong lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear and I will go;
    I will carry off, and there is no one who delivers.
¹⁵ I will return again^[ae] to my place
    until they acknowledge their guilt
        and seek my face;
    in their distress they will search^[af] me.

125 Those who trust in Yahweh
are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved,
but abides forever.
² As mountains are round about Jerusalem,
so Yahweh is round about his people,
from now until forever.
³ For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land^[b] of the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
their hands to do wickedness.^[c]
4 Do good, O Yahweh, to the good,
and to those upright in their hearts.
⁵ But regarding those who turn aside to their crooked ways,
Yahweh will lead them away with the evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel.

⁹ If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man,
    then there is rankling and ridicule,^[a] but there is no relief.
¹⁰ Men of blood hate the blameless,
    and they seek the life of the upright.^[b]
11 A fool gives all his breath,^[c]
    but the wise holds back in quiet.