The Lord Accuses Israel
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k Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel,
for l the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or steadfast love,
and m no knowledge of God in the land;
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n there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and o bloodshed follows bloodshed.
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Therefore p the land mourns,
and all who dwell in it languish,
q and also the beasts of the field
and the birds of the heavens,
r and even the fish of the sea are taken away.
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s Yet let no one contend,
and let none accuse,
for with you is t my contention, O priest.
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You shall stumble by day;
the prophet also shall stumble with you by night;
and I will destroy u your mother.
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My people are destroyed v for lack of knowledge;
w because you have rejected knowledge,
I reject you x from being a priest to me.
And since you have forgotten the law of your God,
y I also will forget your children.
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z The more they increased,
the more they sinned against me;
a I will change their glory into shame.
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b They feed on the sin of my people;
they are greedy for their iniquity.
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c And it shall be like people, like priest;
I will punish them for their ways
and repay them for their deeds.
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d They shall eat, but not be satisfied;
they shall play the whore, but not multiply,
because they have forsaken the Lord
to cherish
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whoredom, wine, and new wine,
which e take away the understanding.
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My people f inquire of a piece of wood,
and their walking staff gives them oracles.
For g a spirit of whoredom has led them astray,
and they have left their God to play the whore.
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h They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains
and burn offerings on the hills,
i under oak, poplar, and terebinth,
because their shade is good.
Therefore your daughters play the whore,
and your brides commit adultery.
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I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore,
nor your brides when they commit adultery;
for j the men themselves go aside with prostitutes
and sacrifice with k cult prostitutes,
and a people l without understanding shall come to ruin.
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Though you play the whore, O m Israel,
let not m Judah become guilty.
n Enter not into o Gilgal,
nor go up to p Beth-aven,
and swear not, "As the Lord lives."
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Like a stubborn heifer,
Israel is stubborn;
can the Lord now feed them
like a lamb in a broad pasture?
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q Ephraim is joined to idols;
r leave him alone.
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When their drink is gone, they give themselves to whoring;
s their rulers dearly love shame.
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t A wind has wrapped them in its wings,
and they shall u be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
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Cross References
Hosea 5:1
Hear this, O priests! Pay attention, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For the judgment is for you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor.
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Cross References
Isaiah 3:13 - 14
The Lord has taken his place to contend; he stands to judge peoples.
Jeremiah 25:31
The clamor will resound to the ends of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against the nations; he is entering into judgment with all flesh, and the wicked he will put to the sword, declares the Lord.
Micah 6:2
Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel.
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Cross References
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
Hosea 4:14
I will not punish your daughters when they play the whore, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.
Jeremiah 4:22
"For my people are foolish; they know me not; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are 'wise' - in doing evil! But how to do good they know not."
Jeremiah 5:4
Then I said, "These are only the poor; they have no sense; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God.
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Cross References
Hosea 7:1
When I would heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria; for they deal falsely; the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid outside.
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Cross References
Hosea 6:9
As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests band together; they murder on the way to Shechem; they commit villainy.
Hosea 12:14
Ephraim has given bitter provocation; so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.
Micah 3:10
Who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.
Micah 7:2
The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net.
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Cross References
Isaiah 24:4
The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.
Jeremiah 4:28
"For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark; for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back."
Joel 1:10
The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes.
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Cross References
Joel 1:18
How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.
Zephaniah 1:3
I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, and the rubble with the wicked. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth," declares the Lord.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 38:20
The fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the people who are on the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence. And the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tumble to the ground.
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Cross References
Hosea 4:17
Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 17:12
The man who acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
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Cross References
Hosea 2:2
Plead with your mother, plead - for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband - that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts.
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Cross References
Hosea 4:1
Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
Isaiah 5:13
Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.
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Cross References
Proverbs 1:29
Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord.
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Cross References
Exodus 19:6
And you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.
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Cross References
Jeremiah 23:39
Therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.
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Cross References
Hosea 13:6
But when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 2:30
Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: 'I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me forever,' but now the Lord declares: 'Far be it from me, for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
Malachi 2:9
And so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.
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Cross References
Leviticus 6:25 - 26
Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord ; it is most holy.
Leviticus 10:17
Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the place of the sanctuary, since it is a thing most holy and has been given to you that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord ?
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Cross References
Isaiah 24:2
And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
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Cross References
Leviticus 26:26
When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.
Micah 6:14
You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
Haggai 1:6
You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
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Cross References
1 Kings 11:4
For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
Proverbs 20:1
Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
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Cross References
Judges 18:5
And they said to him, "Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.
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Cross References
Hosea 5:4
Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of whoredom is within them, and they know not the Lord.
Hosea 2:2
Plead with your mother, plead - for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband - that she put away her whoring from her face, and her adultery from between her breasts.
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Cross References
Ezekiel 6:13
And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every leafy oak, wherever they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols.
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Cross References
Isaiah 1:29
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
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Cross References
Hosea 9:10
Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 23:17
None of the daughters of Israel shall be a cult prostitute, and none of the sons of Israel shall be a cult prostitute.
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Cross References
Hosea 4:1
Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
Hosea 4:6
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
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Cross References
Hosea 6:4
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
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Cross References
Hosea 6:4
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
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Cross References
Amos 4:4 - 5
Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.
Amos 5:5
But do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
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Cross References
Hosea 9:15
Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
Hosea 12:11
If there is iniquity in Gilead, they shall surely come to nothing: in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls; their altars also are like stone heaps on the furrows of the field.
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Cross References
Hosea 5:8
Blow the horn in Gibeah, the trumpet in Ramah. Sound the alarm at Beth-aven; we follow you, O Benjamin!
Hosea 10:5
The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests - those who rejoiced over it and over its glory - for it has departed from them.
Hosea 10:8
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars, and they shall say to the mountains, "Cover us," and to the hills, "Fall on us.
1 Kings 12:29
And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan.
Amos 1:5
I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the Lord.
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Cross References
Hosea 4:12
My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore.
Hosea 5:3
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, O Ephraim, you have played the whore; Israel is defiled.
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Cross References
Matthew 15:14
Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.
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Cross References
Hosea 9:10
Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.
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Cross References
Hosea 13:15
Though he may flourish among his brothers, the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come, rising from the wilderness, and his fountain shall dry up; his spring shall be parched; it shall strip his treasury of every precious thing.
Jeremiah 4:11
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, "A hot wind from the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse.
Jeremiah 51:1
Thus says the Lord : "Behold, I will stir up the spirit of a destroyer against Babylon, against the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.
Zechariah 5:9
Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
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Cross References
Isaiah 1:29
For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired; and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.