The LORD Almighty says to the priests, "Children honor their parents, and servants honor their masters. I am your father---why don't you honor me? I am your master---why don't you respect me? You despise me, and yet you ask, 'How have we despised you?'

This is how---by offering worthless food on my altar. Then you ask, 'How have we failed to respect you?' I will tell you---by showing contempt for my altar.

I ask you, is it right for a person to cheat God? Of course not, yet you are cheating me. 'How?' you ask. In the matter of tithes and offerings.

This is how an unfaithful wife acts: she commits adultery, takes a bath, and says, "But I haven't done anything wrong!"

The people ask, "Why should we fast if the LORD never notices? Why should we go without food if he pays no attention?" The LORD says to them, "The truth is that at the same time you fast, you pursue your own interests and oppress your workers.

My people, were you ashamed because you did these disgusting things? No, you were not ashamed at all; you don't even know how to blush! And so you will fall as others have fallen; when I punish you, that will be the end of you. I, the LORD, have spoken.

The LORD Almighty says, "I will appear among you to judge, and I will testify at once against those who practice magic, against adulterers, against those who give false testimony, those who cheat employees out of their wages, and those who take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners---against all who do not respect me.

Laban went on, "If you mistreat my daughters or if you marry other women, even though I don't know about it, remember that God is watching us.

They replied, "We agree. The LORD is our witness."

Samuel replied, "The LORD and the king he has chosen are witnesses today that you have found me to be completely innocent." "Yes, the LORD is our witness," they answered.

Then they said to me, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not obey all the commands that the LORD our God gives you for us.

Hear this, all you nations; listen to this, all who live on earth! The Sovereign LORD will testify against you. Listen! He speaks from his heavenly temple.

Didn't God make you one body and spirit with her? What was his purpose in this? It was that you should have children who are truly God's people. So make sure that none of you breaks his promise to his wife.

So be happy with your wife and find your joy with the woman you married---

pretty and graceful as a deer. Let her charms keep you happy; let her surround you with her love.

Enjoy life with the one you love, as long as you live the useless life that God has given you in this world. Enjoy every useless day of it, because that is all you will get for all your trouble.

Israel, you are like a young wife, deserted by her husband and deeply distressed. But the LORD calls you back to him and says:

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him."

who is faithless to her own husband and forgets her sacred vows.

How beautiful you are, my love; how your eyes shine with love!

"As I passed by again, I saw that the time had come for you to fall in love. I covered your naked body with my coat and promised to love you. Yes, I made a marriage covenant with you, and you became mine." This is what the Sovereign LORD says.