1  “Why are ^lnot times of judgment ^mkept by the Almighty,

and why do those who know him never see his ⁿdays?

2  Some move ^olandmarks;

they seize flocks and pasture them.

3  They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;

they ^ptake the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4  They ^qthrust the poor off the road;

the poor of the earth ^rall hide themselves.

5  Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert

the poor^{1 s}go out to their toil, ^tseeking game;

the wasteland yields food for their children.

6  They gather their² fodder in the field,

and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

7  They ^ulie all night naked, without clothing,

and have no covering in the cold.

8  They are wet with the rain of the mountains

and ^vcling to the rock for lack of shelter.

9  (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,

and they take a pledge against the poor.)

10  They go about naked, without clothing;

hungry, they ^wcarry the sheaves;

11  among the olive rows of the wicked³ they make oil;

they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

12  From out of the city the dying⁴ groan,

and the soul of ^xthe wounded cries for help;

yet God charges no one with ^ywrong.

13  “There are those who rebel ^zagainst the light,

who are not acquainted with its ways,

and do not stay in its paths.

14  The murderer rises before it is light,

that he ^amay kill the poor and needy,

and in the night he is like a thief.

15  The eye of the adulterer also waits for ^bthe twilight,

saying, ‘No ^ceye will see me’;

and he veils his face.

16  In the dark they ^ddig through houses;

by day they shut themselves up;

they do not know the light.

17  For ^edeep darkness is morning to all of them;

for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18  “You say, ^f‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;

their portion is cursed in the land;

no treader turns toward their vineyards.

19  Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;

so does ^gSheol those who have sinned.

20  The womb forgets them;

the worm finds them sweet;

they are ^hno longer remembered,

so wickedness is broken like ⁱa tree.’

21  “They wrong the barren, childless woman,

and do no good to the widow.

22  Yet God⁵ prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;

they rise up when they despair of life.

23  He gives them security, and they are supported,

and his ^jeyes are upon their ways.

24  They are exalted ^ka little while, and then ^lare gone;

they are brought low and gathered up like all others;

they are ^mcut off like the heads of grain.

25  If it is ⁿnot so, who will prove me a liar

and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

1  ^kHear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,

for ^lthe Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.

There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,

and ^mno knowledge of God in the land;

2  ⁿthere is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;

they break all bounds, and ^obloodshed follows bloodshed.

3  Therefore ^pthe land mourns,

and all who dwell in it languish,

^qand also the beasts of the field

and the birds of the heavens,

^rand even the fish of the sea are taken away.

4  ^sYet let no one contend,

and let none accuse,

for with you is ^tmy contention, O priest.¹

5  You shall stumble by day;

the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;

and I will destroy ^uyour mother.

6  My people are destroyed ^vfor lack of knowledge;

^wbecause you have rejected knowledge,

I reject you ^xfrom being a priest to me.

And since you have forgotten the law of your God,

^yI also will forget your children.

7  ^zThe more they increased,

the more they sinned against me;

^aI will change their glory into shame.

8  ^bThey feed on the sin² of my people;

they are greedy for their iniquity.

9  ^cAnd it shall be like people, like priest;

I will punish them for their ways

and repay them for their deeds.

10  ^dThey shall eat, but not be satisfied;

they shall play the whore, but not multiply,

because they have forsaken the Lord

to cherish 11 whoredom, wine, and new wine,

which ^etake away the understanding.

12  My people ^finquire of a piece of wood,

and their walking staff gives them oracles.

For ^ga spirit of whoredom has led them astray,

and they have left their God to play the whore.

13  ^hThey sacrifice on the tops of the mountains

and burn offerings on the hills,

ⁱunder oak, poplar, and terebinth,

because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the whore,

and your brides commit adultery.

14  I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,

nor your brides when they commit adultery;

for ^jthe men themselves go aside with prostitutes

and sacrifice with ^kcult prostitutes,

and a people ^lwithout understanding shall come to ruin.

15  Though you play the whore, O ^mIsrael,

let not ^mJudah become guilty.

ⁿEnter not into ^oGilgal,

nor go up to ^pBeth-aven,

and swear not, “As the Lord lives.”

16  Like a stubborn heifer,

Israel is stubborn;

can the Lord now feed them

like a lamb in a broad pasture?

17  ^qEphraim is joined to idols;

^rleave him alone.

18  When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;

^stheir rulers³ dearly love shame.

19  ^tA wind has wrapped them⁴ in its wings,

and they shall ^ube ashamed because of their sacrifices.

1  ^vHear this, O priests!

Pay attention, O house of Israel!

Give ear, O house of the king!

For the judgment is for you;

for ^wyou have been a snare at Mizpah

and a net spread upon ^xTabor.

2  And ^ythe revolters ^zhave gone deep into slaughter,

but ^aI will discipline all of them.

3  ^bI know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me;

for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore;

Israel is defiled.

4  ^cTheir deeds do not permit them

to return to their God.

For ^dthe spirit of whoredom is within them,

and they know not the Lord.

5  ^eThe pride of Israel testifies to his face;⁵

Israel and ^fEphraim shall stumble in his guilt;

^fJudah also shall stumble with them.

6  ^gWith their flocks and herds they shall go

to seek the Lord,

^gbut they will not find him;

^hhe has withdrawn from them.

7  ⁱThey have dealt faithlessly with the Lord;

for they have borne alien children.

Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

8  ^jBlow the horn in ^kGibeah,

the trumpet in ^lRamah.

Sound the alarm at ^mBeth-aven;

we follow you,⁶ O Benjamin!

9  Ephraim shall become a desolation

in the day of punishment;

among the tribes of Israel

I make known what is sure.

10  The princes of Judah have become

like ⁿthose who move the landmark;

upon them I will pour out

my wrath like water.

11  Ephraim is ^ooppressed, crushed in judgment,

because he was determined to go after filth.⁷

12  But I am ^plike a moth to Ephraim,

and ^plike dry rot to the house of Judah.

13  When Ephraim saw his sickness,

and Judah ^qhis wound,

then Ephraim went ^rto Assyria,

and sent to the great king.⁸

^sBut he is not able to cure you

or heal ^qyour wound.

14  For I will be ^tlike a lion to ^uEphraim,

and like a young lion to the house of ^uJudah.

^vI, even I, will tear and go away;

I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.

15  ^wI will return again to my place,

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face,

and ^xin their distress earnestly seek me.

1  “Come, let us ^yreturn to the Lord;

for ^zhe has torn us, that he may heal us;

he has struck us down, and ^ahe will bind us up.

2  After two days ^bhe will revive us;

on the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him.

3  ^cLet us know; ^clet us press on to know the Lord;

^dhis going out is sure as the dawn;

he will come to us ^eas the showers,

^fas the spring rains that water the earth.”

4  What shall I do with you, ^gO ^hEphraim?

What shall I do with you, O ^hJudah?

Your love is ⁱlike a morning cloud,

ⁱlike the dew that goes early away.

5  Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;

I have slain them ^jby the words of my mouth,

and my judgment goes forth as the light.

6  For ^kI desire steadfast love⁹ and not sacrifice,

^lthe knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

7  But ^mlike Adam they ⁿtransgressed the covenant;

^othere they dealt faithlessly with me.

8  ^pGilead is a city of evildoers,

^qtracked with blood.

9  As robbers ^rlie in wait for a man,

so the priests band together;

they murder on the way to ^sShechem;

they commit villainy.

10  In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;

^tEphraim’s whoredom is there; ^uIsrael is defiled.

11  For you also, O ^uJudah, ^va harvest is appointed.

When ^wI restore the fortunes of my people,