Israel and Judah Will Be Judged
The Lord said:
1 Listen, you priests!
Pay attention, Israel!
Listen, you members
of the royal family.
Justice was your duty.
But at Mizpah and Mount Tabor
you trapped the people.
2 At the place of worship
you were a treacherous pit,
and I will punish you.
3 Israel, I know all about you,
and because of your unfaithfulness,
I find you unacceptable.
4 Your evil deeds are the reason
you won't return to me,
your Lord God.
And your constant craving for sex
keeps you from knowing me.
5 Israel, your pride
testifies to your guilt;
it makes you stumble,
and Judah stumbles too.
6 You offer sheep and cattle
as sacrifices to me,
but I have turned away
and refuse to be found.
7 You have been unfaithful
to me, your Lord;
you have had children
by prostitutes.
So at the New Moon Festival,
you and your crops
will be destroyed.
The Lord Warns Israel and Judah
8 Give a warning on the trumpet!
Let it be heard in Gibeah,
Ramah, and sinful Bethel.
Benjamin, watch out!
9 I, the Lord, will punish
and wipe out Israel.
This is my solemn promise
to every tribe of Israel.
10 Judah's leaders are like crooks
who move boundary markers;
that's why I will flood them
with my anger.
11 Israel was brutally crushed.
They got what they deserved
for worshiping useless idols.
12 Now I, the Lord,
will fill Israel with maggots
and make Judah rot.
13 When Israel and Judah saw
their sickness and wounds,
Israel asked help from Assyria
and its mighty king.
But the king cannot cure them
or heal their wounds.
14 So I'll become a fierce lion
attacking Israel and Judah.
I'll snatch and carry off
what I want,
and no one can stop me.
15 Then I'll return to my temple
until they confess their guilt
and worship me,
until they are desperate
and beg for my help.
1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. 4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. 5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. 6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. 7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Beth-aven, after thee, O Benjamin. 9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. 10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment. 12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him .
15 ¶ I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early.