Israel and Judah Will Be Judged
The Lord said:
1 Listen, you priests!
Pay attention, Israel!
Listen, you members
of the royal family.
Justice was your duty.
But at Mizpah and Mount Tabor
you trapped the people.
2 At the place of worship
you were a treacherous pit,
and I will punish you.
3 Israel, I know all about you,
and because of your unfaithfulness,
I find you unacceptable.
4 Your evil deeds are the reason
you won't return to me,
your Lord God.
And your constant craving for sex
keeps you from knowing me.
5 Israel, your pride
testifies to your guilt;
it makes you stumble,
and Judah stumbles too.
6 You offer sheep and cattle
as sacrifices to me,
but I have turned away
and refuse to be found.
7 You have been unfaithful
to me, your Lord;
you have had children
by prostitutes.
So at the New Moon Festival,
you and your crops
will be destroyed.
The Lord Warns Israel and Judah
8 Give a warning on the trumpet!
Let it be heard in Gibeah,
Ramah, and sinful Bethel.
Benjamin, watch out!
9 I, the Lord, will punish
and wipe out Israel.
This is my solemn promise
to every tribe of Israel.
10 Judah's leaders are like crooks
who move boundary markers;
that's why I will flood them
with my anger.
11 Israel was brutally crushed.
They got what they deserved
for worshiping useless idols.
12 Now I, the Lord,
will fill Israel with maggots
and make Judah rot.
13 When Israel and Judah saw
their sickness and wounds,
Israel asked help from Assyria
and its mighty king.
But the king cannot cure them
or heal their wounds.
14 So I'll become a fierce lion
attacking Israel and Judah.
I'll snatch and carry off
what I want,
and no one can stop me.
15 Then I'll return to my temple
until they confess their guilt
and worship me,
until they are desperate
and beg for my help.
1 O ye Priestes, heare this, and hearken ye, O house of Israel, and giue ye eare, O house of the King: for iudgement is towarde you, because you haue bene a snare on Mizpah, and a net spred vpon Tabor. 2 Yet they were profounde, to decline to slaughter, though I haue bene a rebuker of them all. 3 I knowe Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for nowe, O Ephraim thou art become an harlot, and Israel is defiled. 4 They will not giue their mindes to turne vnto their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the middes of them, and they haue not knowen the Lord. 5 And the pride of Israel doth testifie to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquitie: Iudah also shall fall with them. 6 They shall goe with their sheepe, and with their bullockes to seeke the Lord: but they shall not finde him: for he hath withdrawne himselfe from them. 7 They haue transgressed against the Lord: for they haue begotte strange children: now shall a moneth deuoure them with their portions. 8 Blowe ye the trumpet in Gibeah, and the shaume in Ramah: crie out at Beth-auen, after thee, O Beniamin. 9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel haue I caused to knowe the trueth. 10 The princes of Iudah were like them that remoue the bounde: therefore will I powre out my wrath vpon them like water. 11 Ephraim is oppressed, and broken in iudgement, because he willingly walked after the commandement. 12 Therefore wil I be vnto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Iudah as a rottennesse. 13 When Ephraim sawe his sickenes, and Iudah his wound, then went Ephraim vnto Asshur, and sent vnto King Iareb: yet coulde hee not heale you, nor cure you of your wound. 14 For I will be vnto Ephraim as a lyon, and as a lyons whelpe to the house of Iudah: I, euen I will spoyle, and goe away: I will take away, and none shall rescue it. 15 I will go, and returne to my place, til they acknowledge their fault, and seeke me: in their affliction they will seeke me diligently.