The Hebrew Prophets

My people are destroyed for want of knowledge. Because you rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as cohen for me. Because you forgot the Torah of your God, I will also forget your children.

The more they increased in number, the more they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame.

They feed on the sin of my people and are greedy for their crimes.

But the cohen will fare no better than the people; I will punish him for his ways and pay him back for his deeds.

They will eat but not have enough and consort with whores but have no children, because they stopped listening to ADONAI.

Whoring and wine, both old and new, take away my people's wits.

My people consult their piece of wood, their diviner's wand speaks to them; for the spirit of whoring makes them err, they go off whoring, deserting their God.

They sacrifice on the mountain peaks and offer incense on the hills under oaks, poplars and pistachio trees; because they give good shade. Therefore your daughters behave like whores, And your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

I won't punish your daughters when they act like whores, or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; because the men are themselves going off with whores and sacrificing with prostitutes. Yes, a people without understanding will come to ruin."

If you, Isra'el, prostitute yourself, still Y'hudah has no need to incur such guilt. Don't go to Gilgal or up to Beit-Aven, and don't swear, "As ADONAI lives."

For Isra'el is stubborn as a stubborn cow; will ADONAI now feed them like a lamb in a big pasture?

Efrayim is joined to idols; let him alone!

When they finish carousing, they start their whoring; their rulers deeply love dishonor.

The wind will carry them off in its wings and their sacrifices bring them nothing but shame.

"Hear this, cohanim! Pay attention, house of Isra'el! Listen, house of the king! For judgment is coming to you. You have become a snare for Mitzpah and a net spread on Tavor.

The rebels have deepened their slaughter, and I am rejected by all of them.

"I know Efrayim; Isra'el is not hidden from me; for now, Efrayim, you are a whore; Isra'el is defiled."

Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God, for the spirit of whoring is in them, and they don't know ADONAI.

Isra'el's arrogance will testify in his face; Isra'el and Efrayim will stumble in their crimes; Y'hudah too will stumble with them.

With their flocks and herds they will go in search of ADONAI. But they won't find him; he has withdrawn from them.

They have betrayed ADONAI, by fathering foreign children. Now within the month the invaders will devour their lands.

"Blow the shofar in Giv'ah, a trumpet at Ramah; sound an alarm at Beit-Aven: 'Behind you, Binyamin!'

Efrayim will be laid waste when the day for punishment comes; I am announcing to the tribes of Isra'el what will surely happen.

The leaders of Y'hudah are like men who move boundary stones; I will pour my fury out upon them like water.

Efrayim is oppressed, crushed by the judgment, because he deliberately sought out futility.