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God's Controversy with Israel

^1 (C1)Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel,
For the LORD has a legal ^(C2)case with the inhabitants of the land,
Because there is ^(C3)no faithfulness no steadfast love, no dependability or loyalty or kindness
Or ^(C4)knowledge of God from personal experience with Him in the land.

² There is false ^(C1)swearing of oaths, ^(C2)deception (broken faith), ^(C3)murder, ^(C4)stealing, and ^(C5)adultery;
They employ violence, so that one act of ^(C6)bloodshed follows closely on another.

³ Therefore the land continually ^(C1)mourns,
And everyone who lives in it languishes in tragic suffering
Together with the animals of the open country and the birds of the heavens;
Even the fish of the sea disappear.

⁴ Yet let no one ^(C1)find fault, nor let any rebuke others;
For your people are like those who ^(C2)contend with the priest.

⁵ So you will ^(C1)stumble in the daytime,
And the false prophet will also stumble with you in the night;
And I will destroy your ^(C2)mother (Israel). ^(VR1)

^6 (C1)My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge of My law, where I reveal My will.
Because you the priestly nation have ^(C2)rejected knowledge,
I will also ^(C3)reject you from being My priest.
Since you have ^(C4)forgotten the ^(C5)law of your God,
I will also forget your children.

⁷ The more they ^(C1)multiplied in numbers and increased in power, the more they sinned against Me;
I will ^(C2)change their glory into shame.

⁸ They (the priests) ^(F1)(C1)feed on the sin offering of My people
And ^(C2)set their heart on their wickedness. ^(VR1)

⁹ And it shall be: like people, ^(C1)like priest both are wicked and both will be judged;
So I will ^(C2)punish them for their ways
And repay them for their deeds.

^10 (C1)They will eat, but not have enough;
They will ^(C2)play the prostitute, but not increase their descendants,
Because they have ^(C3)stopped giving heed to the LORD.

¹¹ Prostitution, ^(C1)wine, and new wine take away the mind and the spiritual understanding.

¹² My people ^(C1)consult their lifeless wooden idol, and their diviner's wand gives them oracles.
For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray morally and spiritually,
And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God.

¹³ They sacrifice on the ^(C1)tops of the mountains
And ^(C2)burn incense on the hills,
^(C3)Under oaks, poplars, and terebinths,
Because the shade is pleasant there.
Therefore your daughters play the prostitute
And your brides commit adultery.

¹⁴ I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute
Or your brides when they commit adultery,
For the men themselves slip away with prostitutes,
And they offer sacrifices with ^(C1)temple prostitutes who give their bodies in honor of the idol.
So the people without understanding stumble and fall and come to ruin.

¹⁵ Though you, Israel, play the prostitute by worshiping idols,
Do not let Judah become guilty of the same thing;
And do not go to ^(C1)Gilgal where idols are worshiped,
Or go up to ^(F1)Beth-aven (House of Wickedness),
^(C2)Nor swear oaths in idolatrous worship, saying,
"As the LORD lives!"

¹⁶ For Israel is ^(C1)stubborn,
Like a stubborn heifer.
Can the LORD now ^(C2)pasture them
Like a lamb in a large field?

¹⁷ Ephraim is joined to ^(C1)idols,
So ^(C2)let him alone to suffer the consequences.

¹⁸ When their liquor is gone and their drinking parties are over,
They habitually go to play the prostitute;
Ephraim's ^(C1)rulers continue to dearly love shame more than her glory which is the LORD, Israel's God.

^19 (C1)The wind of God's relentless wrath has wrapped up Israel in its wings,
And in captivity they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices to calves, to sun, to moon, to stars, and to pagan gods.