We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:

Neither have we hearkened to thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

O Lord, righteousness belongeth to thee, but to us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;

Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

And all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.

As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we have not obeyed his voice.

And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast obtained thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thy anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people have become a reproach to all that are about us.

Now I have come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.

And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spoke, and said to him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength.

And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.

He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yes, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Cushites shall be at his steps.

And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

And she conceived again, and bore a daughter. And God said to him, Call her name Lo-ruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.

But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they are the children of lewdness.

And I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees, of which she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.

And I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them who were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall be guilty of lewdness, and shall not increase: because they have ceased to take heed to the LORD.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth to them: for the spirit of lewdness hath caused them to err, and they have gone astray from under their God.

Their drink is sour: they have been guilty of lewd deeds continually: her rulers with shame do love, Give ye.

Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is towards you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all.

They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of lewdness is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be.

Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.

But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.

I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the prostitution of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was disclosed, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers strippeth without.

And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them around; they are before my face.

In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calleth to me.

Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not: yes, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not.

Woe to them! for they have fled from me: destruction to them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

And they have not cried to me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds: they assemble themselves for corn and wine, and they rebel against me.

Though I have bound and strengthened their arms, yet do they imagine mischief against me.

Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the LORD, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law.

They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made for themselves idols, that they may be cut off.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if it shall yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

Yes, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them, and they shall sorrow a little for the burden of the king of princes.

I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.

Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit to himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath multiplied the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images.

For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?

They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field.

Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou hast trusted in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men.

And Ephraim said, Yet I have become rich, I have found for myself substance: in all my labors they shall find no iniquity in me that were sin.

I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes by the ministry of the prophets.

And now they sin more and more, and have made them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their own understanding, all of it the work of artificers: they say of them, Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves.

According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.

Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir-tree. From me is thy fruit found.

How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.

I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and divided my land.

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

Yes, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense upon your own head;

Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things.

The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold to the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head:

Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwelleth in Zion.

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away their punishment: because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might enlarge their border:

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away their punishment: because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked:

You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

And I will smite the winter-house with the summer-house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece on which it rained not withered.

So two or three cities wandered to one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the ill savor of your camps to come up to your nostrils: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.

Have ye offered to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:

Ye who rejoice in a thing of naught, who say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

Are ye not as children of the Cushites to me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel from the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Assyrians from Kir?

And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.

The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumor from the LORD, and an embassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is no understanding in him.

But thou shouldst not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldst thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldst thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Thou shouldst not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yes, thou shouldst not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Neither shouldst thou have stood in the cross-way, to cut off those of his that escaped; neither shouldst thou have delivered up those of his that remained in the day of distress.

For as ye have drank upon my holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yes, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

But I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.

The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and have gone out by it; and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.