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¹ Listen, you priests!
    Pay attention, Israel!^[a]
Listen, you members
    of the royal family.
Justice was your duty.
But^[b] at Mizpah and Mount Tabor
    you trapped the people.
² At the place of worship
you were a treacherous pit,^[c]
    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.^[d]
So at the New Moon Festival,
you and your crops
    will be destroyed.^[e]

⁸ Give a warning on the trumpet!
Let it be heard in Gibeah,
    Ramah, and sinful Bethel.^[f]
Benjamin, watch out!^[g]
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.^[h]
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.^[i]

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.