New Living Translation | International Standard Version |
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, priests, pay attention, house of Israel, listen, royal family! For judgment is coming your way, because you have been a trap to Mizpah, a snare spread out on Mount 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 into their slaughter; I am punishing 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 Ephraim, and Israel cannot hide from me, since you, Ephraim, have been acting like a prostitute, defiling Israel. |
4Your deeds won’t let you return to your God. You are a prostitute through and through, and you do not know the LORD. | 4"Their actions hinder them from turning to their God, because a spirit of fornication is in their midst, and the LORD they do not know. |
5“The arrogance of Israel testifies against her; Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt. Judah, too, will fall with them. | 5The arrogance of Israel testifies against him; therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity, and Judah 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6When they come with their flocks and herds to offer sacrifices to the LORD, they will not find him, because he has withdrawn from them. | 6They will go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they will not find him; he has withdrawn from them.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, having raised unbelieving children. In the coming month they will be devoured, along with their fields. |
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! | 8"Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, and the alarm in Ramah. Cry out at Beth-aven Go out, Benjamin! |
9One thing is certain, Israel : On your day of punishment, you will become a heap of rubble. | 9Ephraim will be desolate when it is rebuked. I have made known among the tribes of Israel what will surely come about. |
10“The leaders of Judah have become like thieves. So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall. | 10The princes of Judah have become like those who move boundary markers: I will pour out my anger on them like water. |
11The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment because they are determined to worship idols. | 11Ephraim is crushed, broken by judgment, because he willingly pursued idols. |
12I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool. I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood. | 12Therefore I will consume Ephraim like a moth, and the house of Judah as rottenness consumes. |
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 examined his illness and Judah his injury, then Ephraim went to Assyria, and inquired of the great king; but he could not cure you nor heal your injury. |
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. | 14Therefore I will be 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 I will leave. I will take them away, and there will be no rescue. |
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.” | 15"I will leave and go back to my place until they admit their offense and seek my face. When affliction comes to them, they will eagerly seek me." |
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. |
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