4
Yahweh’s accusation against Israel
1 You Israeli people, listen to this message from Yahweh!
He is accusing you people who live in this country,
saying “The people are not faithfully doing what pleases me,
they are not kind to others,
and they do not even know me!
2 Everywhere in this land they curse others, they murder others, they steal, and they commit adultery.
They act violently toward others
and commit one murder after another.
3 It is because of their doing those things that there is no rain [MTY], the land has become dry,
the people are mourning,
and the people are dying from hunger.
Even the wild animals and the birds and the fish in the sea are dying.
4 But no one should accuse someone else
and say it is his fault.
It is you priests whom I am accusing.
5 So I will punish [MTY] you priests, night and day,
and I will punish the prophets with you.
I am going to destroy Israel, the nation that is like [MET] a mother to you.
6 It is because my people do not know about me that they will be destroyed.
And their not knowing about me is because you priests have refused to teach them about me;
so I will no longer allow you to be my priests.
You have forgotten the things that I taught you,
so I will forget to bless your children.
7 As there are more and more priests,
they have sinned against me more and more.
So I will no longer allow them to be honored;
instead, I will cause them to be disgraced.
8 The priests get food from the offerings that the people bring in order to be forgiven for having sinned,
so the priests want the people to sin more and more
in order that the people will bring them more and more offerings.
9 The priests are as sinful as the other people,
and I will punish all of them for what they have done;
I will pay them back for the evil things that they have done.
10 The priests will eat, but they will still be hungry;
they will have sex with prostitutes, but they will not have any children,
because they have abandoned me, Yahweh,
11 and they are devoting themselves to sleeping with prostitutes,
and to drinking old wine and new wine,
which results in their not being able to think clearly.”
The people are condemned for idolatry
12 “You my people request wooden idols
to tell you what you should do!
Like prostitutes who have left/abandoned their husbands,
13 you have abandoned me your God, and you are chasing after other gods on the tops of hills and mountains;
you burn incense under oak trees, poplar trees, and other trees
where there is nice/pleasing shade.
So your daughters have become prostitutes,
and your daughters-in-law have committed adultery.
14 But it is not only your daughters
whom I will punish for having become prostitutes,
and it is not only your daughters-in-law
whom I will punish for committing adultery,
because the men also are having sex with prostitutes,
and they offer sacrifices
with the prostitutes who search for men at the shrines of the idols.
They are all foolish people, and they will all be ruined.
15 You Israeli people have abandoned me
like [MET] those who commit adultery have abandoned their spouses.
But do not cause the people of Judah to sin also.
Do not go to Gilgal or go up to Beth-Aven towns
to worship idols there.
Do not make solemn promises there, saying ‘Just as surely as Yahweh lives, I will do what I am promising.’
16 You people of Israel are as stubborn as [SIM] a young cow.
So there is no way [RHQ] that I, Yahweh, will provide food for them
like a shepherd provides food for his lambs
by leading them to a nice meadow.
17 The people of Israel have chosen to worship idols [MET],
so allow them to do what they want to do.
18 When their rulers finish drinking their wine,
they go to find prostitutes;
they love their disgraceful behavior.
19 But they will disappear
as though [MET] they were blown away by a whirlwind.
They will become very ashamed because of their offering sacrifices to idols.”