"Even though you people of Israel are unfaithful to me, may Judah not be guilty of the same thing. Don't worship at Gilgal or Bethaven, or make promises there in the name of the living LORD.

Yet idols are worshiped in Gilead, and those who worship them will die. Bulls are sacrificed in Gilgal, and the altars there will become piles of stone in the open fields."

The people crossed the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho.

And he said to the people of Israel, "In the future, when your children ask you what these stones mean,

Tell them that the LORD your God dried up the water of the Jordan for you until you had crossed, just as he dried up the Red Sea for us.

Then the LORD told Joshua, "Make some knives out of flint and circumcise the Israelites."

When the people of Israel left Egypt, all the males were already circumcised. However, during the forty years the people spent crossing the desert, none of the baby boys had been circumcised. Also, by the end of that time all the men who were of fighting age when they left Egypt had died because they had disobeyed the LORD. Just as he had sworn, they were not allowed to see the rich and fertile land that he had promised their ancestors.

(SEE 5:4)

After the circumcision was completed, the whole nation stayed in the camp until the wounds had healed.

After this, Joshua and his army went back to the camp at Gilgal.

Every year he would go around to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and in these places he would settle disputes.

The Sovereign LORD says, "People of Israel, go to the holy place in Bethel and sin, if you must! Go to Gilgal and sin with all your might! Go ahead and bring animals to be sacrificed morning after morning, and bring your tithes every third day.

Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel---Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal---her people are doomed to exile."

My people, remember what King Balak of Moab planned to do to you and how Balaam son of Beor answered him. Remember the things that happened on the way from the camp at Acacia to Gilgal. Remember these things and you will realize what I did in order to save you."

I will destroy your places of worship on the hills, tear down your incense altars, and throw your dead bodies on your fallen idols. In utter disgust

She exposed herself publicly and let everyone know she was a whore. I was as disgusted with her as I had been with her sister.

I lost patience with three other shepherds, who hated me, and I got rid of them all in a single month.

The people of Israel will not remain in the LORD's land, but will have to go back to Egypt and will have to eat forbidden food in Assyria.

The God I serve will reject his people, because they have not listened to him. They will become wanderers among the nations.

Gomer had a second child---this time it was a daughter. The LORD said to Hosea, "Name her 'Unloved,' because I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them.

The LORD said to Hosea, "Name him 'Not-My-People,' because the people of Israel are not my people, and I am not their God."

In just this way the people of Israel will have to live for a long time without kings or leaders, without sacrifices or sacred stone pillars, without idols or images to use for divination.

then I will remove my people Israel from the land that I have given them. I will also abandon this Temple which I have consecrated as the place where I am to be worshiped. People everywhere will ridicule Israel and treat her with contempt.

People will answer, 'It is because they abandoned the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt. They gave their allegiance to other gods and worshiped them. That is why the LORD has brought this disaster on them.' "

They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to pagan gods; they consulted mediums and fortunetellers, and they devoted themselves completely to doing what is wrong in the LORD's sight, and so aroused his anger.

But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the LORD their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel.

He abandoned his tent in Shiloh, the home where he had lived among us.

Judah also saw that I divorced Israel and sent her away because she had turned from me and had become a prostitute. But Judah, Israel's unfaithful sister, was not afraid. She too became a prostitute

The LORD says, "The people I love are doing evil things. What right do they have to be in my Temple? Do they think they can prevent disaster by making promises and by offering animal sacrifices? Will they then rejoice?

"Have you noticed how people are saying that I have rejected Israel and Judah, the two families that I chose? And so they look with contempt on my people and no longer consider them a nation.

And just as surely as I have done this, so I will maintain my covenant with Jacob's descendants and with my servant David. I will choose one of David's descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will be merciful to my people and make them prosperous again."

when I take you into exile in a land beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is Almighty God.

"Listen to this, you priests! Pay attention, people of Israel! Listen, you that belong to the royal family! You are supposed to judge with justice---so judgment will fall on you! You have become a trap at Mizpah, a net spread on Mount Tabor,

a deep pit at Acacia City, and I will punish all of you.

Your leaders are rebels and friends of thieves; they are always accepting gifts and bribes. They never defend orphans in court or listen when widows present their case.

I will go to the people in power and talk with them. Surely they know what their God requires, what the LORD wants them to do." But all of them have rejected the LORD's authority and refuse to obey him.

The government officials are like wolves tearing apart the animals they have killed. They commit murder in order to get rich.

The city's rulers govern for bribes, the priests interpret the Law for pay, the prophets give their revelations for money---and they all claim that the LORD is with them. "No harm will come to us," they say. "The LORD is with us."

Its officials are like roaring lions; its judges are like hungry wolves, too greedy to leave a bone until morning.

The next day the Jewish leaders, the elders, and the teachers of the Law gathered in Jerusalem.

They made the apostles stand before them and asked them, "How did you do this? What power do you have or whose name did you use?"

The apostles obeyed, and at dawn they entered the Temple and started teaching. The High Priest and his companions called together all the Jewish elders for a full meeting of the Council; then they sent orders to the prison to have the apostles brought before them.