Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have behaved in an unfaithful manner by taking foreign wives! This has contributed to the guilt of Israel.

How much less, then, when you say that you do not perceive him, that the case is before him and you are waiting for him! ¹ 

For ¹  they do not speak the truth; ²  their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³  their throats like an open grave, ⁴  their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ⁵ 

But the king ¹  will rejoice in God; everyone who takes oaths in his name ²  will boast, for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ³ 

Like cutting off the feet or drinking violence, ¹  so is sending ²  a message by the hand of a fool. ³ 

The man ¹  who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, ²  but whoever associates ³  with prostitutes wastes ⁴  his wealth. ⁵ 

They ¹  will go into caves in the rocky cliffs and into holes in the ground, ²  trying to escape the dreadful judgment of the Lord ³  and his royal splendor, when he rises up to terrify the earth. ⁴ 

Ephraim’s leader is Samaria, and Samaria’s leader is the son of Remaliah. If your faith does not remain firm, then you will not remain secure.” ¹ 

He will become a sanctuary, ¹  but a stone that makes a person trip, and a rock that makes one stumble – to the two houses of Israel. ²  He will become ³  a trap and a snare to the residents of Jerusalem. ⁴ 

¹ They will say to you, “Seek oracles at the pits used to conjure up underworld spirits, from the magicians who chirp and mutter incantations. ²  Should people not seek oracles from their gods, by asking the dead about the destiny of the living?” ³ 

At that time ¹  those left in Israel, those who remain of the family ²  of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. ³  Instead they will truly ⁴  rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ⁵ 

They will no longer trust in ¹  the altars their hands made, or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made. ² 

all will be put to shame ¹  because of a nation that cannot help them, who cannot give them aid or help, but only shame and disgrace.”

Indeed, they live in the holy city; ¹  they trust in ²  the God of Israel, whose name is the Lord who commands armies.

A drought will come upon her land; her rivers and canals will be dried up. ¹  All of this will happen because her land is filled with idols. ²  Her people act like madmen because of ³  those idols they fear. ⁴ 

“So the time will certainly come ¹  when I will punish the idols of Babylon. Her whole land will be put to shame. All her mortally wounded will collapse in her midst. ² 

Yes, but the time will certainly come,” ¹  says the Lord, ²  “when I will punish her idols. Throughout her land the mortally wounded will groan.

מ (Mem) But it happened ¹  due to the sins of her prophets ²  and the iniquities of her priests, who poured out in her midst the blood of the righteous.

Even the calf idol ¹  will be carried to Assyria, as tribute for the great king. ²  Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be put to shame because ³  of its wooden idol. ⁴ 

(12:1) ¹  Ephraim has surrounded me with lies; the house of Israel has surrounded me ²  with deceit. But Judah still roams about with ³  God; he remains faithful to the Holy One.