| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1“Hear this, you priests. Pay attention, you leaders of Israel. Listen, you members of the royal family. Judgment has been handed down against you. For you have led the people into a snare by worshiping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor. | 1“Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O royal house! For this judgment is against you because you have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor. |
| 2You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia Grove. But I will settle with you for what you have done. | 2The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I will chastise them all. |
| 3I know what you are like, O Ephraim. You cannot hide yourself from me, O Israel. You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband; you are utterly defiled. | 3I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled. |
| 4Your deeds won’t let you return to your God. You are a prostitute through and through, and you do not know the LORD. | 4Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD. |
| 5“The arrogance of Israel testifies against her; Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt. Judah, too, will fall with them. | 5Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; even Judah stumbles with them. |
| 6When they come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to the LORD, they will not find him, because he has withdrawn from them. | 6They go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they do not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them. |
| 7They have betrayed the honor of the LORD, bearing children that are not his. Now their false religion will devour them along with their wealth. | 7They have been unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their land. |
| 8“Sound the alarm in Gibeah! Blow the trumpet in Ramah! Raise the battle cry in Beth-aven ! Lead on into battle, O warriors of Benjamin! | 8Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; raise the battle cry in Beth-aven: Lead on, O Benjamin! |
| 9One thing is certain, Israel : On your day of punishment, you will become a heap of rubble. | 9Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain. |
| 10“The leaders of Judah have become like thieves. So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall. | 10The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary stones; I will pour out My fury upon them like water. |
| 11The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols. | 11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols. |
| 12I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood. | 12So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah. |
| 13“When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria— to the great king there— but he could neither help nor cure them. | 13When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound. |
| 14I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces! I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them. | 14For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them. |
| 15Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and turn to me. For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for me.” | 15Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.” |
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