New English [1970], THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE) [word count] [B16000].
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God's case against Israel
1 Hear the word of the Lord, O Israel;
for the Lord has a charge to bring against the people of the land:
There is no good faith or mutual trust,
no knowledge of God in the land,
2 oaths are imposed and broken, they kill and rob;
there is nothing but adultery and licence, note
one deed of blood after another.
3 Therefore the land shall be dried up,
and all who live in it shall pine away,
and with them the wild beasts and the birds of the air;
even the fish shall be swept from the sea.
4 But it is not for any man to bring a charge,
it is not for him to prove a case;
the quarrel with you, false priest, is mine.
5 Priest? note By day and by night you blunder on,
you and the prophet with you.
6 My people are ruined for lack of knowledge;
your own countrymen are brought to ruin. note
-- --
God's case against Israel
You have rejected knowledge,
and I will reject you from serving me as priest.
You have forgotten the teaching of God,
and I, your God, will forget your sons.
7 The more priests there are, the more they sin against me;
their dignity I will turn into dishonour.
8 They feed on the sin of my people
and batten on their iniquity.
9 But people and priest shall be treated alike.
I will punish them for their conduct
and repay them for their deeds:
10 they shall eat but never be satisfied,
behave wantonly but their lust will never be overtaxed,
for they have forsaken the Lord
11 to give themselves to sacred prostitution.
12 New wine and old steal my people's wits: note
they ask advice from a block of wood
and take their orders from a fetish; note
for a spirit of wantonness has led them astray
and in their lusts they are unfaithful to their God.
13 Your men sacrifice on mountain-tops
and burn offerings on the hills,
under oak and poplar
and the terebinth's pleasant shade.
Therefore your daughters play the wanton
and your sons' brides commit adultery.
14 I will not punish your daughters for playing the wanton
nor your son's brides for their adultery,
because your men resort to wanton women
and sacrifice with temple-prostitutes.
A people without understanding comes to grief;
15 they are a mother turned wanton.
Bring no guilt-offering, note Israel;
do not come to Gilgal, Judah,
do not go up to Beth-aven to swear by the life of the Lord,
16 since Israel has run wild, wild as a heifer;
and will the Lord now feed this people
like lambs in a broad meadow?
17 Ephraim, keeping company with idols,
18 has held a drunken orgy, note
-- --
God's case against Israel
they have practised sacred prostitution,
they have preferred dishonour to glory. note
19 The wind shall sweep them away, wrapped in its wings,
and they will find their sacrifices a delusion.
New English [1970], THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE) [word count] [B16000].
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