1 "Listen, you priests!

And you other Israeli people, you also pay attention!

And you who are members of the king’s family, you also need to listen,

because I am going to judge you!

Your worshiping idols has been like [MET] a trap for the people at Mizpah town;

it has been like [MET] a net spread out to catch people at Tabor Mountain.

2 You have done many evil things,

so I will punish all of you.

3 I know everything about the people of Israel;

nothing that they have done is hidden from me.

Because the people of Israel have given themselves to worshiping idols

like [MET] prostitutes give themselves to the men they sleep with,

they have become unacceptable to me.

4 Because they like to do evil things,

they will not return to me, their God.

Like prostitutes who have abandoned their husbands [MET], they have [IDM] abandoned [MET] me;

they do not even know me, Yahweh.

5 It is as though their being proud testifies [PRS] against them.

The sins that the people of Israel have committed are like a heavy load that causes them to stumble,

and the people of Judah stumble with them.

6 They will come to worship me, Yahweh,

bringing their herds of sheep and cattle,

but they will not be able to find me,

because I have abandoned them.

7 They have abandoned me;

and their children do not belong to me [MET].

So they will not be able to celebrate their festivals at the new moons

because I will destroy them and the crops in their fields.

8 Blow the rams’ horns in Gibeah town

and blow the trumpets in Ramah town!

Warn the people at Beth-Aven town;

you warriors of the tribe of Benjamin, lead the troops into the battle.

9 Israel will be ruined on the day that I destroy them.

What I am telling to the tribes of Israel will certainly happen.

10 Because the leaders of Judah seized some land that belonged to Israel,

they are like [SIM] those who move boundary markers to get more land for themselves;

so I will punish them severely [MET].

11 And the people of Israel will suffer greatly when I punish them,

because they are very determined to worship idols.

12 I will destroy the people of Israel like [SIM] ◄larvae of moths/cockroaches► destroy wool,

and I will cause the people of Judah to be like [SIM] rotten wood.

13 When the leaders of Israel and Judah saw that the people were suffering

because of what their enemies were doing to them [MET],

they sent messages to the great King of Assyria

requesting his help.

But he cannot help you;

he cannot cause you to stop suffering,

because I am the one who is punishing Israel and Judah.

14 I will become like [SIM] a lion [DOU] to both nations;

I will attack them and tear them to pieces.

I will drag them away,

and no one will be able to rescue them.

15 After that, I will return to my place in heaven

until they admit that they have sinned [MTY] and return to me;

when they will experience many troubles,

they will request me to help them."