¹Hear the word of Yahweh, children of Israel, for Yahweh has a dispute with those who dwell in the land; for there is no stability, no loyal love, and no knowledge of God in the land.

²Cursing and deceiving and murdering and stealing and committing adultery; they burst out, and bloodshed touches bloodshed.

³Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells in it will languish, along with the animals of the field and the birds of the skies; and even the fish of the sea will be taken away.

⁴Yet let no one contend, and let no one reprove; your people are like those who contend with a priest.

⁵And you will stumble by day, and a prophet also will stumble with you by night; and I will destroy your mother.

⁶My people are cut off for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from serving as priest for me; since you have forgotten the instruction of your God, I too will forget your children.

⁷As they multiplied, so they sinned against me; I will exchange their weightiness for shame.

⁸They will eat the sin of my people, and toward their guilt each will lift up his being.

⁹It will happen: like the people, like the priest; I will visit his ways upon him, and his deeds I will repay to him.

¹⁰They will eat but not be satisfied; they will prostitute themselves but not increase; for they have forsaken Yahweh to keep watch.

¹¹Unfaithfulness, wine, and new wine take away the heart.

¹²My people inquire of their wood, and their staff declares to them; for a spirit of whoredoms has made them wander, and they have prostituted themselves from under their God.

¹³On the tops of the mountains they sacrifice, and on the hills they make smoke, under oak and poplar and terebinth, for its shade is good. Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not visit it upon your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor upon your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for they go apart with the prostitutes, and with the temple prostitutes they sacrifice; and a people that does not understand will be thrown down.

¹⁵If you prostitute yourself, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. Do not come to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-Aven, and do not swear, As Yahweh lives.

¹⁶For Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer; now will Yahweh shepherd them like a lamb in a roomy place?

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone.

¹⁸Their drink has come to an end; they have surely prostituted themselves; they have loved. Love shame, O her shields!

¹⁹A wind has wrapped her in its wings, and they will be ashamed of their sacrifices.