God’s Case against His People 1 UDB Listen to the message Yahweh has for you. "You people of Israel, Yahweh is accusing you, you who live in this place." He says, "I cannot find anyone here who tells the truth. I cannot see anyone who loves me. None of you can honestly say that he knows me. BSB BSB: Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!
2 UDB You curse and lie, you kill and steal, and you commit adultery. You have broken every law, and you commit one murder after another. BSB BSB: Cursing and lying, murder and stealing, and adultery are rampant; one act of bloodshed follows another.
3 UDB Because of what the people are doing, the land is now a wilderness. Every creature that lives here is dying, from the animals that live in the fields, to the birds that fly in the sky; even the fish in the sea, they are also dying. BSB BSB: Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
4 UDB But you must not accuse anyone else for this trouble. You must not allow anyone to correct another person; no one has that right, because everyone is guilty. And I am also accusing the priests. BSB BSB: But let no man contend; let no man offer reproof; for your people are like those who contend with a priest.
5 UDB You priests sin during the day and the prophets with you sin at night. I promise you, I will destroy Israel, who is like a mother to you. BSB BSB: You will stumble by day, and the prophet will stumble with you by night; so I will destroy your mother—
6 UDB My people are perishing because you priests have refused to understand me. And why do you understand me so little? Because you have rejected the things I have instructed you to do. So I am rejecting you from being priests to me. Look at what you have forgotten: You have forgotten the instructions that I, your God, gave to you. Because you forgot me, I will forget your children. BSB BSB: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.
7 UDB The more numerous you priests become, the more you do the things that I have forbidden. You have abandoned me in order to become shameful. BSB BSB: The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; they exchanged their Glory for a thing of disgrace.
8 UDB When other people sin, they bring sacrifices to me, some of which you eat. So you want the people to sin more and more. BSB BSB: They feed on the sins of My people and set their hearts on iniquity.
9 UDB I will punish you priests just as I punish the people. I will punish all of you for your behavior; I will pay you all back for all the wicked deeds you have done. BSB BSB: And it shall be like people, like priest. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
10 UDB You all will eat, but you will never get enough. You will always be hungry. They will continue to sleep with other women, but the women will not conceive, because you have all abandoned me, Yahweh. BSB BSB: They will eat but not be satisfied; they will be promiscuous but not multiply. For they have abandoned the LORD to give themselves
11 UDB You love to do forbidden sexual acts, and to drink wine and new wine. All these things have made it impossible for you to know right from wrong. BSB BSB: to promiscuity, wine, and new wine, which take away understanding.
12 UDB My own people pray to an idol made from a piece of wood. They ask their walking staffs to tell them which way they should go! They are always wanting to sin in sexual ways, so they have stopped obeying me, the God whom they should worship. BSB BSB: My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God.
13 UDB They worship other gods in the places on the tops of the mountains where they have set up idols. They burn offerings to the idols up on those hills— in all the places where they worship those idols—under the oak trees, poplar trees, and the terebinth trees— because these trees give good shade. Following your example, your daughters decided to become prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law committed adultery. BSB BSB: They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
14 UDB But I will not punish the women for turning to prostitution, or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. It is the men who are doing the very same thing! The men sleep with prostitutes, and they offer sacrifices in the houses of idols where there are prostitutes. It is true: "A people who have not lived as they were taught to live, will come to destruction." BSB BSB: I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.
15 UDB Israel, you have left me and gone to idols. But I hope that Judah will not do the same thing. You people of Judah, do not go to Gilgal. Do not go up to Beth Aven to worship idols there. Do not make solemn oaths, calling on me to make good on your promises, adding to your vows the words, 'As Yahweh lives!" BSB BSB: Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
16 UDB Israel is as stubborn as a young cow. Can I now feed them as if they were little lambs in a meadow? BSB BSB: For Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer. Can the LORD now shepherd them like lambs in an open meadow?
17 UDB Ephraim has gone to join idols. Leave those people alone! BSB BSB: Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!
18 UDB When they have finished drinking all their alcoholic drinks then they will commit even more sexual sins. Their rulers love to do these shameful things. BSB BSB: When their liquor is gone, they turn to prostitution; their rulers dearly love disgrace.
19 UDB Someone will attack them; he will be like a whirlwind that lifts them up and carries them away to another place. Only then will they be ashamed because they gave offerings to the idols." BSB BSB: The whirlwind has wrapped them in its wings, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.