Day 343 of 730

¹Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel; for the Lord has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: "Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.

²There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.

³Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away, all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die.

⁴"Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.

⁵You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.

⁶My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God's law, I will also forget your children.

⁷As they were multiplied, so they sinned against me. I will change their glory into shame.

⁸They feed on the sin of my people, and set their heart on their iniquity.

⁹It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.

¹⁰They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned giving to the Lord.

¹¹Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.

¹²My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.

¹³They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin.

¹⁵"Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet do not let Judah offend; and do not come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, 'As the Lord lives.'

¹⁶For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will the Lord feed them like a lamb in a meadow.

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols. Leave him alone!

¹⁸Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.

¹⁹The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices.

¹"Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.

²The rebels are deep in slaughter; but I discipline all of them.

³I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.

⁴Their deeds won't allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the Lord.

⁵The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them.

⁶They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they won't find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.

⁷They are unfaithful to the Lord; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

⁸"Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!

⁹Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be.

¹⁰The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water.

¹¹Ephraim is oppressed, he is crushed in judgment; Because he is intent in his pursuit of idols.

¹²Therefore I am to Ephraim like a moth, and to the house of Judah like rottenness.

¹³"When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.

¹⁴For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.

¹⁵I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly."

¹Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.

²For you are the God of my strength. Why have you rejected me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, To your tents.

⁴Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.

⁵Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him: my Savior, my helper, and my God.

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

²So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

³Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

⁸that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his holy ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

¹⁷who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

¹⁸for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

²⁰that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.