Judgment on Israel and Judah 1 UDB "Listen, you priests! Pay attention, you people of Israel! And you members of the king's family, you also need to listen! For I will punish all of you. The things you have done have been like a trap for the people at Mizpah. The things you have done have become like a net spread out to catch the people who live on Mount Tabor. BSB BSB: “Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O royal house! For this judgment is against you because you have been a snare at Mizpah, a net spread out on Tabor.
2 UDB Those who rebelled against me have now killed so many that they are standing deep in their blood. I tell you that I will punish them all. BSB BSB: The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I will chastise them all.
3 UDB You, the people in Ephraim, the center of Israel—I know you. I know very well what you are like, you people of Israel. You people in Ephraim, you have acted like prostitutes. Yes, you people in Israel are polluted. BSB BSB: I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled.
4 UDB Ephraim and Israel are not able to ask me to forgive them, because of what they have done. They have chosen to be unfaithful and immoral, and they do not know me, Yahweh." BSB BSB: Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.
5 UDB Israel is proud; because of this others know how guilty she is. The sins that the people of Israel have committed are making them faithless to Yahweh. Judah is becoming faithless, too. BSB BSB: Israel’s arrogance testifies against them; Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; even Judah stumbles with them.
6 UDB They are hoping to persuade Yahweh to have mercy on them. They are coming to sacrifice sheep and cattle to him from their flocks and herds. But they will find that Yahweh will have no mercy on them because he has stopped helping them; he is leaving them alone. BSB BSB: They go with their flocks and herds to seek the LORD, but they do not find Him; He has withdrawn Himself from them.
7 UDB They did not keep their promises to Yahweh. and they have had children by foreign women. So at the time of the new moon festivals, they will perish, together with their cultivated fields." BSB BSB: They have been unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their land.
8 UDB Yahweh says, "Blow the ram horns at the city of Gibeah! Blow the trumpets at the city of Ramah! Shout a battle cry at the city of Beth Aven! Lead us into battle, you people of the tribe of Benjamin! BSB BSB: Blow the ram’s horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah; raise the battle cry in Beth-aven: Lead on, O Benjamin!
9 UDB I will punish the people of Ephraim and turn their city into a pile of rubble. This is my promise to the tribes of Israel—I pledge to you all that I will do this. BSB BSB: Ephraim will be laid waste on the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel I proclaim what is certain.
10 UDB The leaders of Judah are as bad as people who steal farmland by moving boundary markers; they steal land that does not belong to them. I will punish them in a way that will make them perish. BSB BSB: The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary stones; I will pour out My fury upon them like water.
11 UDB Ephraim will suffer greatly; the people will perish when I punish them, because they were determined to worship idols. BSB BSB: Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.
12 UDB I will destroy Ephraim as a moth destroys wool; I will destroy Judah as rot destroys wood. BSB BSB: So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
13 UDB When the people of Ephraim realized how weak they were, then they asked the people of Assyria for help. When the people of Judah realized how weak they were, they sent messengers to the great king of Assyria. But he could not help you people; he could not make you people strong again. BSB BSB: When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.
14 UDB I will become like a lion to the people of Ephraim in Israel; I will become like a young lion to the people of Judah. I will destroy them and leave them; I will carry them far away, and no one will be able to rescue them. BSB BSB: For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them to pieces and then go away. I will carry them off where no one can rescue them.
15 UDB Then I will go back to where I came from; from there I will wait for them to admit that they have sinned; I will wait for them to come and ask me to help them." BSB BSB: Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”