53 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
53 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 5
|
||
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.
|
||
2 You have dug a deep pit to trap them at Acacia Grove.
|
||
But I will settle with you for what you have done.
|
||
3 I 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.
|
||
4 Your deeds won’t let you return to your God.
|
||
You are a prostitute through and through,
|
||
and you 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.
|
||
6 When they come with their flocks and herds
|
||
to offer sacrifices to the Lord,
|
||
they will not find him,
|
||
because he has withdrawn from them.
|
||
7 They have betrayed the honor of the Lord,
|
||
bearing children that are not his.
|
||
Now their false religion will devour them
|
||
along with their wealth.
|
||
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!
|
||
9 One thing is certain, Israel:
|
||
On your day of punishment,
|
||
you will become a heap of rubble.
|
||
10 “The leaders of Judah have become like thieves.
|
||
So I will pour my anger on them like a waterfall.
|
||
11 The people of Israel will be crushed and broken by my judgment
|
||
because they are determined to worship idols.
|
||
12 I will destroy Israel as a moth consumes wool.
|
||
I will make Judah as weak as rotten wood.
|
||
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.
|
||
14 I 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.
|
||
15 Then 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.” |