" Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, [saying,] 'As the LORD lives' --

Though Gilead [has] idols -- Surely they are vanity -- Though they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal, Indeed their altars [shall be] heaps in the furrows of the field.

Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth [day] of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What [are] these stones?'

"for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over,

At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time."

And this [is] the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt [who were] males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt.

For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people [who were] men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD -- to whom the LORD swore that He would not show them the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, "a land flowing with milk and honey."

So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed.

Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

He went from year to year on a circuit to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, and judged Israel in all those places.

" Come to Bethel and transgress, At Gilgal multiply transgression; Bring your sacrifices every morning, Your tithes every three days.

But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And Bethel shall come to nothing.

O My people, remember now What Balak king of Moab counseled, And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, From Acacia Grove to Gilgal, That you may know the righteousness of the LORD."

I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols; and My soul shall abhor you.

She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness. Then I alienated Myself from her, As I had alienated Myself from her sister.

I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

They shall not dwell in the LORD's land, But Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean [things] in Assyria.

My God will cast them away, Because they did not obey Him; And they shall be wanderers among the nations.

And she conceived again and bore a daughter. Then [God] said to him: "Call her name Lo-Ruhamah, For I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, But I will utterly take them away.

Then [God] said: "Call his name Lo-Ammi, For you [are] not My people, And I will not be your [God.]

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim.

"then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

"Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.' "

And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.

Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, The tent He had placed among men,

"Then I saw that for all the causes for which backsliding Israel had committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a certificate of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the harlot also.

"What has My beloved to do in My house, Having done lewd deeds with many? And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.

"Have you not considered what these people have spoken, saying, 'The two families which the LORD has chosen, He has also cast them off'? Thus they have despised My people, as if they should no more be a nation before them.

'then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, [so] that I will not take [any] of his descendants [to be] rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will cause their captives to return, and will have mercy on them.' "

Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus," Says the LORD, whose name [is] the God of hosts.

"Hear this, O priests! Take heed, O house of Israel! Give ear, O house of the king! For yours [is] the judgment, Because you have been a snare to Mizpah And a net spread on Tabor.

The revolters are deeply involved in slaughter, Though I rebuke them all.

Your princes [are] rebellious, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes, And follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.

I will go to the great men and speak to them, For they have known the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God." But these have altogether broken the yoke [And] burst the bonds.

"Her princes in her midst [are] like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain.

Her heads judge for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the LORD, and say, "Is not the LORD among us? No harm can come upon us."

Her princes in her midst [are] roaring lions; Her judges [are] evening wolves That leave not a bone till morning.

And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes,

And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?"

And when they heard [that,] they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.