1 H ear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy (a pleading contention) with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no faithfulness, love, pity and mercy, or knowledge of God in the land.

`Hear a word of Jehovah, sons of Israel, For a strife to Jehovah with inhabitants of the land, For there is no truth, nor kindness, Nor knowledge of God, in the land,

2 T here is nothing but swearing and breaking faith and killing and stealing and committing adultery; they break out, one bloodshed following close on another.

Swearing, and lying, and murdering, And stealing, and committing adultery -- have increased, And blood against blood hath touched.

3 T herefore shall the land mourn, and all who dwell in it shall languish, together with the wild beasts of the open country and the birds of the heavens; yes, the fishes of the sea also shall be collected and taken away.

Therefore mourn doth the land, And weak is every dweller in it, With the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the fishes of the sea -- they are removed.

4 Y et let no man strive, neither let any man reprove, for with you is My contention, O priest.

Only, let no one strive, nor reprove a man, And thy people as those striving with a priest.

5 A nd you shall stumble in the daytime, and the prophet also shall stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.

And thou hast stumbled in the day, And stumbled hath also a prophet with thee in the night, And I have cut off thy mother.

6 M y people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

Cut off have been My people for lack of knowledge, Because thou knowledge hast rejected, I reject thee from being priest to Me, And thou forgettest the law of thy God, I forget thy sons, I also!

7 T he more they increased and multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.

According to their abundance so they sinned against Me, Their honour into shame I change.

8 T hey feed on the sin of My people and set their heart on their iniquity.

The sin of My people they do eat, And unto their iniquity lift up their soul.

9 A nd it shall be: Like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their doings.

And it hath been, like people, like priest, And I have charged on it its ways, And its habitual doings I return to it.

10 F or they shall eat and not have enough; they shall play the harlot and beget no increase, because they have forsaken the Lord for harlotry;

And they have eaten, and are not satisfied, They have gone a-whoring, and increase not, For they have left off taking heed to Jehovah.

11 H arlotry and wine and new wine take away the heart and the mind and the spiritual understanding.

Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, take the heart,

12 M y people ask counsel of their wood, and their staff gives them oracles and instructs them. For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray and they have played the harlot, withdrawing themselves from subjection to their God.

My people at its staff asketh and its rod declareth to it, For a spirit of whoredoms hath caused to err, And they go a-whoring from under their God.

13 T hey sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and they burn incense upon the hills and under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because there the shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the harlot and your sons’ wives commit adultery.

On tops of the mountains they do sacrifice, And on the hills they make perfume, Under oak, and poplar, and terebinth, For good its shade.

14 I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, for themselves go aside in order to be alone with women who prostitute themselves for gain, and they sacrifice at the altar with dedicated harlots. Therefore the people without understanding shall stumble and fall and come to ruin.

Therefore commit whoredom do your daughters, And your spouses commit adultery, I do not see after your daughters when they commit whoredom, And after your spouses when they commit adultery, For they with the harlots are separated, And with the whores they do sacrifice, A people that doth not understand kicketh.

15 T hough you, Israel, play the harlot and worship idols, let not Judah offend and become guilty; come not to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth-aven, nor swear, As the Lord lives.

Though a harlot thou, O Israel, Let not Judah become guilty, And come not ye in to Gilgal, nor go up to Beth-Aven, Nor swear ye, Jehovah liveth.

16 F or Israel has behaved stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. How then should he expect to be fed and treated by the Lord like a lamb in a large pasture?

For as a refractory heifer hath Israel turned aside, Now doth Jehovah feed them as a lamb in a large place.

17 E phraim is joined to idols, let him alone.

Joined to idols Ephraim, let him alone.

18 T heir drinking carousal over, they go habitually to play the harlot; rulers love shame more than her glory.

Sour their drink, They have gone diligently a-whoring, Her protectors have loved shame thoroughly.

19 T he resistless wind has bound up in its wings or skirts, and they and their altars shall be put to shame because of their sacrifices.

Distressed her hath wind with its wings, And they are ashamed of their sacrifices!