56 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
56 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 7
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1 “I want to heal Israel, but its sins are too great.
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Samaria is filled with liars.
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Thieves are on the inside
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and bandits on the outside!
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2 Its people don’t realize
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that I am watching them.
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Their sinful deeds are all around them,
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and I see them all.
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3 “The people entertain the king with their wickedness,
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and the princes laugh at their lies.
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4 They are all adulterers,
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always aflame with lust.
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They are like an oven that is kept hot
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while the baker is kneading the dough.
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5 On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
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carousing with those who mock them.
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6 Their hearts are like an oven
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blazing with intrigue.
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Their plot smolders through the night,
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and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.
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7 Burning like an oven,
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they consume their leaders.
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They kill their kings one after another,
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and no one cries to me for help.
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8 “The people of Israel mingle with godless foreigners,
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making themselves as worthless as a half-baked cake!
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9 Worshiping foreign gods has sapped their strength,
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but they don’t even know it.
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Their hair is gray,
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but they don’t realize they’re old and weak.
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10 Their arrogance testifies against them,
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yet they don’t return to the Lord their God
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or even try to find him.
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11 “The people of Israel have become like silly, witless doves,
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first calling to Egypt, then flying to Assyria for help.
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12 But as they fly about,
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I will throw my net over them
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and bring them down like a bird from the sky.
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I will punish them for all the evil they do.
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13 “What sorrow awaits those who have deserted me!
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Let them die, for they have rebelled against me.
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I wanted to redeem them,
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but they have told lies about me.
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14 They do not cry out to me with sincere hearts.
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Instead, they sit on their couches and wail.
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They cut themselves, begging foreign gods for grain and new wine,
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and they turn away from me.
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15 I trained them and made them strong,
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yet now they plot evil against me.
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16 They look everywhere except to the Most High.
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They are as useless as a crooked bow.
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Their leaders will be killed by their enemies
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because of their insolence toward me.
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Then the people of Egypt
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will laugh at them. |