Amos 7

To Die Homeless and Friendless

1-2 God, my Master, showed me this vision: He was preparing a locust swarm. The first cutting, which went to the king, was complete, and the second crop was just sprouting. The locusts ate everything green. Not even a blade of grass was left.

I called out, “God, my Master! Excuse me, but what’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”

3 Godgave in.

“It won’t happen,” he said.

4 Godshowed me this vision: Oh!God, my MasterGodwas calling up a firestorm. It burned up the ocean. Then it burned up the Promised Land.

5 I said, “God, my Master! Hold it—please! What’s going to come of Jacob? He’s so small.”

6 Godgave in.

“All right, this won’t happen either,”God, my Master, said.

7 Godshowed me this vision: My Master was standing beside a wall. In his hand he held a plumb line.

8-9 Godsaid to me, “What do you see, Amos?”

I said, “A plumb line.”

Then my Master said, “Look what I’ve done. I’ve hung a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I’ve spared them for the last time. This is it!

“Isaac’s sex-and-religion shrines will be smashed,

Israel’s unholy shrines will be knocked to pieces.

I’m raising my sword against the royal family of Jeroboam.”

10 Amaziah, priest at the shrine at Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel:

“Amos is plotting to get rid of you; and he’s doing it as an insider, working from within Israel. His talk will destroy the country. He’s got to be silenced. Do you know what Amos is saying?

11 ‘Jeroboam will be killed.

Israel is headed for exile.’”

12-13 Then Amaziah confronted Amos: “Seer, be on your way! Get out of here and go back to Judah where you came from! Hang out there. Do your preaching there. But no more preaching at Bethel! Don’t show your face here again. This is the king’s chapel. This is a royal shrine.”

14-15 But Amos stood up to Amaziah: “I never set up to be a preacher, never had plans to be a preacher. I raised cattle and I pruned trees. ThenGodtook me off the farm and said, ‘Go preach to my people Israel.’

16-17 “So listen toGod’s Word. You tell me, ‘Don’t preach to Israel. Don’t say anything against the family of Isaac.’ But here’s whatGodis telling you:

Your wife will become a whore in town.

Your children will get killed.

Your land will be auctioned off.

You will die homeless and friendless.

And Israel will be hauled off to exile, far fromhome.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/AMO/7-c5dbc09b957cc1c4e0efc6662a38565d.mp3?version_id=97—

Amos 8

You Who Give Little and Take Much

1 My MasterGodshowed me this vision: A bowl of fresh fruit.

2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?”

I said, “A bowl of fresh, ripe fruit.”

Godsaid, “Right. So, I’m calling it quits with my people Israel. I’m no longer acting as if everything is just fine.”

3 “The royal singers will wail when it happens.”

My MasterGodsaid so.

“Corpses will be strewn here, there, and everywhere.

Hush!”

4-6 Listen to this, you who walk all over the weak,

you who treat poor people as less than nothing,

Who say, “When’s my next paycheck coming

so I can go out and live it up?

How long till the weekend

when I can go out and have a good time?”

Who give little and take much,

and never do an honest day’s work.

You exploit the poor, using them—

and then, when they’re used up, you discard them.

7-8 Godswears against the arrogance of Jacob:

“I’m keeping track of their every last sin.”

God’s oath will shake earth’s foundations,

dissolve the whole world into tears.

God’s oath will sweep in like a river that rises,

flooding houses and lands,

And then recedes,

leaving behind a sea of mud.

9-10 “On Judgment Day, watch out!”

These are the words ofGod, my Master.

“I’ll turn off the sun at noon.

In the middle of the day the earth will go black.

I’ll turn your parties into funerals

and make every song you sing a dirge.

Everyone will walk around in rags,

with sunken eyes and bald heads.

Think of the worst that could happen

—your only son, say, murdered.

That’s a hint of Judgment Day

—that and much more.

11-12 “Oh yes, Judgment Day is coming!”

These are the words of my MasterGod.

“I’ll send a famine through the whole country.

It won’t be food or water that’s lacking, but my Word.

People will drift from one end of the country to the other,

roam to the north, wander to the east.

They’ll go anywhere, listen to anyone,

hoping to hearGod’s Word—but they won’t hear it.

13-14 “On Judgment Day,

lovely young girls will faint of Word-thirst,

robust young men will faint of God-thirst,

Along with those who take oaths at the Samaria Sin-and-Sex Center,

saying, ‘As the lord god of Dan is my witness!’

and ‘The lady goddess of Beer-sheba bless you!’

Their lives will fall to pieces.

They’ll never put it together again.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/AMO/8-e9ad194c86288ef39524bd9055bdfbb5.mp3?version_id=97—

Amos 9

Israel Thrown into a Sieve

1-4 I saw my Master standing beside the altar at the shrine. He said:

“Hit the tops of the shrine’s pillars,

make the floor shake.

The roof’s about to fall on the heads of the people,

and whoever’s still alive, I’ll kill.

No one will get away,

no runaways will make it.

If they dig their way down into the underworld,

I’ll find them and bring them up.

If they climb to the stars,

I’ll find them and bring them down.

If they hide out at the top of Mount Carmel,

I’ll find them and bring them back.

If they dive to the bottom of the ocean,

I’ll send Dragon to swallow them up.

If they’re captured alive by their enemies,

I’ll send Sword to kill them.

I’ve made up my mind

to hurt them, not help them.”

5-6 My Master,God-of-the-Angel-Armies,

touches the earth, a mere touch, and it trembles.

The whole world goes into mourning.

Earth swells like the Nile at flood stage;

then the water subsides, like the great Nile of Egypt.

God builds his palace—towers soaring high in the skies,

foundations set on the rock-firm earth.

He calls ocean waters and they come,

then he ladles them out on the earth.

God, your God, does all this.

7-8 “Do you Israelites think you’re any better than the far-off Cushites?”God’s Decree.

“Am I not involved with all nations? Didn’t I bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, the Arameans from Qir? But you can be sure that I,God, the Master, have my eye on the Kingdom of Sin. I’m going to wipe it off the face of the earth. Still, I won’t totally destroy the family of Jacob.”God’s Decree.

9-10 “I’m still giving the orders around here. I’m throwing Israel into a sieve among all the nations and shaking them good, shaking out all the sin, all the sinners. No real grain will be lost, but all the sinners will be sifted out and thrown away, the people who say, ‘Nothing bad will ever happen in our lifetime. It won’t even come close.’

Blessings Like Wine Pouring off the Mountains

11-12 “But also on that Judgment Day I will restore David’s house that has fallen to pieces. I’ll repair the holes in the roof, replace the broken windows, fix it up like new. David’s people will be strong again and seize what’s left of enemy Edom, plus everyone else under my sovereign judgment.”God’s Decree. He will do this.

13-15 “Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.”God’s Decree.

“Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people Israel:

“They’ll rebuild their ruined cities.

They’ll plant vineyards and drink good wine.

They’ll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables.

And I’ll plantthem, plant them on their own land.

They’ll never again be uprooted from the land I’ve given them.”

God, your God, says so.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/AMO/9-c9240199cd3915875e4fc803bf9a4f77.mp3?version_id=97—

Joel 1

Get in Touch with Reality—and Weep!

1-3 God’s Message to Joel son of Pethuel:

Attention, elder statesmen! Listen closely,

everyone, whoever and wherever you are!

Have you ever heard of anything like this?

Has anything like this ever happened before—ever?

Make sure you tell your children,

and your children tell their children,

And their childrentheirchildren.

Don’t let this message die out.

4 What the chewing locust left,

the gobbling locust ate;

What the gobbling locust left,

the munching locust ate;

What the munching locust left,

the chomping locust ate.

5-7 Sober up, you drunks!

Get in touch with reality—and weep!

Your supply of booze is cut off.

You’re on the wagon, like it or not.

My country’s being invaded

by an army invincible, past numbering,

Teeth like those of a lion,

fangs like those of a tiger.

It has ruined my vineyards,

stripped my orchards,

And clear-cut the country.

The landscape’s a moonscape.

8-10 Weep like a young virgin dressed in black,

mourning the loss of her fiancé.

Without grain and grapes,

worship has been brought to a standstill

in the Sanctuary ofGod.

The priests are at a loss.

God’s ministers don’t know what to do.

The fields are sterile.

The very ground grieves.

The wheat fields are lifeless,

vineyards dried up, olive oil gone.

11-12 Dirt farmers, despair!

Grape growers, wring your hands!

Lament the loss of wheat and barley.

All crops have failed.

Vineyards dried up,

fig trees withered,

Pomegranates, date palms, and apple trees—

deadwood everywhere!

And joy is dried up and withered

in the hearts of the people.

Nothing’s Going On in the Place of Worship

13-14 And also you priests,

put on your robes and join the outcry.

You who lead people in worship,

lead them in lament.

Spend the night dressed in gunnysacks,

you servants of my God.

Nothing’s going on in the place of worship,

no offerings, no prayers—nothing.

Declare a holy fast, call a special meeting,

get the leaders together,

Round up everyone in the country.

Get them intoGod’s Sanctuary for serious prayer toGod.

15-18 What a day! Doomsday!

God’s Judgment Day has come.

The Strong God has arrived.

This is serious business!

Food is just a memory at our tables,

as are joy and singing from God’s Sanctuary.

The seeds in the field are dead,

barns deserted,

Grain silos abandoned.

Who needs them? The crops have failed!

The farm animals groan—oh, how they groan!

The cattle mill around.

There’s nothing for them to eat.

Not even the sheep find anything.

19-20 God! I pray, I cry out to you!

The fields are burning up,

The country is a dust bowl,

forest and prairie fires rage unchecked.

Wild animals, dying of thirst,

look to you for a drink.

Springs and streams are dried up.

The whole country is burning up.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JOL/1-a185ccb4ec8da84f350fc681b1531532.mp3?version_id=97—

Joel 2

The Locust Army

1-3 Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion!

Trumpet the alarm on my holy mountain!

Shake the country up!

God’s Judgment’s on its way—the Day’s almost here!

A black day! A Doomsday!

Clouds with no silver lining!

Like dawn light moving over the mountains,

a huge army is coming.

There’s never been anything like it

and never will be again.

Wildfire burns everything before this army

and fire licks up everything in its wake.

Before it arrives, the country is like the Garden of Eden.

When it leaves, it is Death Valley.

Nothing escapes unscathed.

4-6 The locust army seems all horses—

galloping horses, an army of horses.

It sounds like thunder

leaping on mountain ridges,

Or like the roar of wildfire

through grass and brush,

Or like an invincible army shouting for blood,

ready to fight, straining at the bit.

At the sight of this army,

the people panic, faces white with terror.

7-11 The invaders charge.

They climb barricades. Nothing stops them.

Each soldier does what he’s told,

so disciplined, so determined.

They don’t get in each other’s way.

Each one knows his job and does it.

Undaunted and fearless,

unswerving, unstoppable.

They storm the city,

swarm its defenses,

Loot the houses,

breaking down doors, smashing windows.

They arrive like an earthquake,

sweep through like a tornado.

Sun and moon turn out their lights,

stars black out.

Godhimself bellows in thunder

as he commands his forces.

Look at the size of that army!

And the strength of those who obey him!

God’s Judgment Day—great and terrible.

Who can possibly survive this?

Change Your Life

12 But there’s also this, it’s not too late—

God’s personal Message!—

“Come back to me and really mean it!

Come fasting and weeping, sorry for your sins!”

13-14 Change your life, not just your clothes.

Come back toGod,yourGod.

And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.

He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,

This most patient God, extravagant in love,

always ready to cancel catastrophe.

Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,

maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.

Maybe, when all’s said and done,

there’ll be blessings full and robust for yourGod!

15-17 Blow the ram’s horn trumpet in Zion!

Declare a day of repentance, a holy fast day.

Call a public meeting.

Get everyone there. Consecrate the congregation.

Make sure the elders come,

but bring in the children, too, even the nursing babies,

Even men and women on their honeymoon—

interrupt them and get them there.

Between Sanctuary entrance and altar,

let the priests,God’s servants, weep tears of repentance.

Let them intercede: “Have mercy,God, on your people!

Don’t abandon your heritage to contempt.

Don’t let the pagans take over and rule them

and sneer, ‘And so where is this God of theirs?’”

18-20 At that,Godwent into action to get his land back.

He took pity on his people.

Godanswered and spoke to his people,

“Look, listen—I’m sending a gift:

Grain and wine and olive oil.

The fast is over—eat your fill!

I won’t expose you any longer

to contempt among the pagans.

I’ll head off the final enemy coming out of the north

and dump them in a wasteland.

Half of them will end up in the Dead Sea,

the other half in the Mediterranean.

There they’ll rot, a stench to high heaven.

The bigger the enemy, the stronger the stench!”

The Trees Are Bearing Fruit Again

21-24 Fear not, Earth! Be glad and celebrate!

Godhas done great things.

Fear not, wild animals!

The fields and meadows are greening up.

The trees are bearing fruit again:

a bumper crop of fig trees and vines!

Children of Zion, celebrate!

Be glad in yourGod.

He’s giving you a teacher

to train you how to live right—

Teaching, like rain out of heaven, showers of words

to refresh and nourish your soul, just as he used to do.

And plenty of food for your body—silos full of grain,

casks of wine and barrels of olive oil.

25-27 “I’ll make up for the years of the locust,

the great locust devastation—

Locusts savage, locusts deadly,

fierce locusts, locusts of doom,

That great locust invasion

I sent your way.

You’ll eat your fill of good food.

You’ll be full of praises to yourGod,

The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.

Never again will my people be despised.

You’ll know without question

that I’m in the thick of life with Israel,

That I’m yourGod, yes,yourGod,

the one and only real God.

Never again will my people be despised.

The Sun Turning Black and the Moon Blood-Red

28-32 “And that’s just the beginning: After that—

“I will pour out my Spirit

on every kind of people:

Your sons will prophesy,

also your daughters.

Your old men will dream,

your young men will see visions.

I’ll even pour out my Spirit on the servants,

men and women both.

I’ll set wonders in the sky above

and signs on the earth below:

Blood and fire and billowing smoke,

the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,

Before the Judgment Day ofGod,

the Day tremendous and awesome.

Whoever calls, ‘Help,God!’

gets help.

On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

there will be a great rescue—just asGodsaid.

Included in the survivors

are those thatGodcalls.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JOL/2-8b88d5dbfe55202264ead5dca7f7af12.mp3?version_id=97—

Joel 3

God Is a Safe Hiding Place

1-3 “In those days, yes, at that very time

when I put life back together again for Judah and Jerusalem,

I’ll assemble all the godless nations.

I’ll lead them down into Judgment Valley

And put them all on trial, and judge them one and all

because of their treatment of my own people Israel.

They scattered my people all over the pagan world

and grabbed my land for themselves.

They threw dice for my people

and used them for barter.

They would trade a boy for a whore,

sell a girl for a bottle of wine when they wanted a drink.

4-8 “As for you, Tyre and Sidon and Philistia,

why should I bother with you?

Are you trying to get back at me

for something I did to you?

If you are, forget it.

I’ll see to it that it boomerangs on you.

You robbed me, cleaned me out of silver and gold,

carted off everything valuable to furnish your own temples.

You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem

into slavery to the Greeks in faraway places.

But I’m going to reverse your crime.

I’m going to free those slaves.

I’ll have done to you what you did to them:

I’ll sell your children as slaves to your neighbors,

And they’ll sell them to the far-off Sabeans.”

God’s Verdict.

9-11 Announce this to the godless nations:

Prepare for battle!

Soldiers at attention!

Present arms! Advance!

Turn your shovels into swords,

turn your hoes into spears.

Let the weak one throw out his chest

and say, “I’m tough, I’m a fighter.”

Hurry up, pagans! Wherever you are, get a move on!

Get your act together.

Prepare to be

shattered byGod!

12 Let the pagan nations set out

for Judgment Valley.

There I’ll take my place at the bench

and judge all the surrounding nations.

13 “Swing the sickle—

the harvest is ready.

Stomp on the grapes—

the winepress is full.

The wine vats are full,

overflowing with vintage evil.

14 “Mass confusion, mob uproar—

in Decision Valley!

God’s Judgment Day has arrived

in Decision Valley.

15-17 “The sky turns black,

sun and moon go dark, stars burn out.

Godroars from Zion, shouts from Jerusalem.

Earth and sky quake in terror.

ButGodis a safe hiding place,

a granite safe house for the children of Israel.

Then you’ll know for sure

that I’myourGod,

Living in Zion,

my sacred mountain.

Jerusalem will be a sacred city,

posted: ‘no trespassing.’

Milk Rivering Out of the Hills

18-21 “What a day!

Wine streaming off the mountains,

Milk rivering out of the hills,

water flowing everywhere in Judah,

A fountain pouring out ofGod’s Sanctuary,

watering all the parks and gardens!

But Egypt will be reduced to weeds in a vacant lot,

Edom turned into barren badlands,

All because of brutalities to the Judean people,

the atrocities and murders of helpless innocents.

Meanwhile, Judah will be filled with people,

Jerusalem inhabited forever.

The sins I haven’t already forgiven, I’ll forgive.”

Godhas moved into Zion for good.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/JOL/3-e5be657fa1593ac1392f16033c5dd695.mp3?version_id=97—

Hosea 1

1 This is God’s Message to Hosea son of Beeri. It came to him during the royal reigns of Judah’s kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. This was also the time that Jeroboam son of Joash was king over Israel.

This Whole Country Has Become a Whorehouse

2 The first timeGodspoke to Hosea he said:

“Find a whore and marry her.

Make this whore the mother of your children.

And here’s why: This whole country

has become a whorehouse, unfaithful to me,God.”

3 Hosea did it. He picked Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She got pregnant and gave him a son.

4-5 ThenGodtold him:

“Name him Jezreel. It won’t be long now before

I’ll make the people of Israel pay for the massacre at Jezreel.

I’m calling it quits on the kingdom of Israel.

Payday is coming! I’m going to chop Israel’s bows and arrows

into kindling in the valley of Jezreel.”

6-7 Gomer got pregnant again. This time she had a daughter.Godtold Hosea:

“Name this one No-Mercy. I’m fed up with Israel.

I’ve run out of mercy. There’s no more forgiveness.

Judah’s another story. I’ll continue having mercy on them.

I’ll save them. It will be theirGodwho saves them,

Not their armaments and armies,

not their horsepower and manpower.”

8-9 After Gomer had weaned No-Mercy, she got pregnant yet again and had a son.Godsaid:

“Name him Nobody. You’ve become nobodies to me,

and I,God, am a nobody to you.

10-11 “But down the road the population of Israel is going to explode past counting, like sand on the ocean beaches. In the very place where they were once named Nobody, they will be named God’s Somebody. Everybody in Judah and everybody in Israel will be assembled as one people. They’ll choose a single leader. There’ll be no stopping them—a great day in Jezreel!”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/HOS/1-3f002d01cde2f27bab455c739e7bf80c.mp3?version_id=97—

Hosea 2

1 “Rename your brothers ‘God’s Somebody.’

Rename your sisters ‘All Mercy.’

Wild Weekends and Unholy Holidays

2-13 “Haul your mother into court. Accuse her!

She’s no longer my wife.

I’m no longer her husband.

Tell her to quit dressing like a whore,

displaying her breasts for sale.

If she refuses, I’ll rip off her clothes

and expose her, naked as a newborn.

I’ll turn her skin into dried-out leather,

her body into a badlands landscape,

a rack of bones in the desert.

I’ll have nothing to do with her children,

born one and all in a whorehouse.

Face it: Your mother’s been a whore,

bringing bastard children into the world.

She said, ‘I’m off to see my lovers!

They’ll wine and dine me,

Dress and caress me,

perfume and adorn me!’

But I’ll fix her: I’ll dump her in a field of thistles,

then lose her in a dead-end alley.

She’ll go on the hunt for her lovers

but not bring down a single one.

She’ll look high and low

but won’t find a one. Then she’ll say,

‘I’m going back to my husband, the one I started out with.

That was a better life by far than this one.’

She didn’t know that it was I all along

who wined and dined and adorned her,

That I was the one who dressed her up

in the big-city fashions and jewelry

that she wasted on wild Baal-orgies.

I’m about to bring her up short: No more wining and dining!

Silk lingerie and gowns are a thing of the past.

I’ll expose her genitals to the public.

All her fly-by-night lovers will be helpless to help her.

Party time is over. I’m calling a halt to the whole business,

her wild weekends and unholy holidays.

I’ll wreck her sumptuous gardens and ornamental fountains,

of which she bragged, ‘Whoring paid for all this!’

They will soon be dumping grounds for garbage,

feeding grounds for stray dogs and cats.

I’ll make her pay for her indulgence in promiscuous religion—

all that sensuous Baal worship

And all the promiscuous sex that went with it,

stalking her lovers, dressed to kill,

And not a thought for me.”

God’s Message!

To Start All Over Again

14-15 “And now, here’s what I’m going to do:

I’m going to start all over again.

I’m taking her back out into the wilderness

where we had our first date, and I’ll court her.

I’ll give her bouquets of roses.

I’ll turn Heartbreak Valley into Acres of Hope.

She’ll respond like she did as a young girl,

those days when she was fresh out of Egypt.

16-20 “At that time”—this isGod’s Message still—

“you’ll address me, ‘Dear husband!’

Never again will you address me,

‘My slave-master!’

I’ll wash your mouth out with soap,

get rid of all the dirty false-god names,

not so much as a whisper of those names again.

At the same time I’ll make a peace treaty between you

and wild animals and birds and reptiles,

And get rid of all weapons of war.

Think of it! Safe from beasts and bullies!

And then I’ll marry you for good—forever!

I’ll marry you true and proper, in love and tenderness.

Yes, I’ll marry you and neither leave you nor let you go.

You’ll know me,God, for who I really am.

21-23 “On the very same day, I’ll answer”—this isGod’s Message—

“I’ll answer the sky, sky will answer earth,

Earth will answer grain and wine and olive oil,

and they’ll all answer Jezreel.

I’ll plant her in the good earth.

I’ll have mercy on No-Mercy.

I’ll say to Nobody, ‘You’re my dear Somebody,’

and he’ll say ‘You’re my God!’”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/HOS/2-22299173e8cb10323e639f2c667b4677.mp3?version_id=97—

Hosea 3

In Time They’ll Come Back

1 ThenGodordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again,

your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife.

Love her the way I,God, love the Israelite people,

even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.”

2-3 I did it. I paid good money to get her back.

It cost me the price of a slave.

Then I told her, “From now on you’re living with me.

No more whoring, no more sleeping around.

You’re living with me and I’m living with you.”

4-5 The people of Israel are going to live a long time

stripped of security and protection,

without religion and comfort,

godless and prayerless.

But in time they’ll come back, these Israelites,

come back looking for theirGodand their David-King.

They’ll come back chastened to reverence

beforeGodand his good gifts, ready for the End of the story of his love.

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/HOS/3-f0bf8f37735ff46dd9b11351055ca698.mp3?version_id=97—

Hosea 4

No One Is Faithful

1-3 Attention all Israelites!God’s Message!

Godindicts the whole population:

“No one is faithful. No one loves.

No one knows the first thing about God.

All this cussing and lying and killing, theft and loose sex,

sheer anarchy, one murder after another!

And because of all this, the very land itself weeps

and everything in it is grief-stricken—

animals in the fields and birds on the wing,

even the fish in the sea are listless, lifeless.

4-10 “But don’t look for someone to blame.

No finger pointing!

You, priest, are the one in the dock.

You stumble around in broad daylight,

And then the prophets take over and stumble all night.

Your mother is as bad as you.

My people are ruined

because they don’t know what’s right or true.

Because you’ve turned your back on knowledge,

I’ve turned my back on you priests.

Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God,

I’m no longer recognizing your children.

The more priests, the more sin.

They traded in their glory for shame.

They pig out on my people’s sins.

They can’t wait for the latest in evil.

The result: You can’t tell the people from the priests,

the priests from the people.

I’m on my way to make them both pay

and take the consequences of the bad lives they’ve lived.

They’ll eat and be as hungry as ever,

have sex and get no satisfaction.

They walked out on me, theirGod,

for a life of rutting with whores.

They Make a Picnic Out of Religion

11-14 “Wine and whiskey

leave my people in a stupor.

They ask questions of a dead tree,

expect answers from a sturdy walking stick.

Drunk on sex, they can’t find their way home.

They’ve replaced their God with their genitals.

They worship on the tops of mountains,

make a picnic out of religion.

Under the oaks and elms on the hills

they stretch out and take it easy.

Before you know it, your daughters are whores

and the wives of your sons are sleeping around.

But I’m not going after your whoring daughters

or the adulterous wives of your sons.

It’s the men who pick up the whores that I’m after,

the men who worship at the holy whorehouses—

a stupid people, ruined by whores!

15-19 “You’ve ruined your own life, Israel—

but don’t drag Judah down with you!

Don’t go to the sex shrine at Gilgal,

don’t go to that sin city Bethel,

Don’t go around saying ‘Godbless you’ and not mean it,

taking God’s name in vain.

Israel is stubborn as a mule.

How canGodlead him like a lamb to open pasture?

Ephraim is addicted to idols.

Let him go.

When the beer runs out,

it’s sex, sex, and more sex.

Bold and sordid debauchery—

how they love it!

The whirlwind has them in its clutches.

Their sex-worship leaves them finally impotent.”

—https://d1b84921e69nmq.cloudfront.net/85/32k/HOS/4-e5e5a8699e5f049acefe89278a633c57.mp3?version_id=97—