Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because {they have} no knowledge: and their honourable men {are} famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. {honourable...: Heb. glory are men of famine}

Also, {that} the soul {be} without knowledge, {it is} not good; and he that hasteth with {his} feet sinneth.

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because {there is} no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.

This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with {their} lips; but their heart is far from me.

They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

For Israel hath forgotten his Maker, and buildeth temples; and Judah hath multiplied fenced cities: but I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he {is} the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

The priests said not, Where {is} the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after {things that} do not profit.

And now, O ye priests, this commandment {is} for you.

Now for a long season Israel {hath been} without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.

In that day I will perform against Eli all {things} which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. {when...: Heb. beginning and ending}

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

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: {but} Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.

For my people {is} foolish, they have not known me; they {are} sottish children, and they have none understanding: they {are} wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge. {perish: Heb. pass away}

He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard {it}, they said, God forbid.

O LORD, {are} not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, {but} they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, {even} two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.

Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: {understanding: Heb. heart}

The bands of the wicked have robbed me: {but} I have not forgotten thy law. {bands: or, companies}

His watchmen {are} blind: they are all ignorant, they {are} all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. {sleeping: or, dreaming, or, talking in their sleep}

My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. {consumed...: Heb. cut me off}

{As for} my people, children {are} their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause {thee} to err, and destroy the way of thy paths. {lead...: or, call thee blessed} {destroy: Heb. swallow up}

And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

Now the sons of Eli {were} sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

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

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them: for the spirit of whoredoms hath caused {them} to err, and they have gone a whoring from under their God.

And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel {to be} my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel?

{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. {thy: Heb. the roof of thy}

They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out {his} vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.

And they took him, and killed {him}, and cast {him} out of the vineyard.

Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.

Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me. {lothed...: Heb. was straightened for them}

Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye {that are} escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god {that} cannot save.

When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, {and} set them on fire: for it {is} a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Woe unto you, {ye} blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble {in} judgment.

And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her {that had been the wife} of Urias;

Where {there is} no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy {is} he. {perish: or, is made naked}

And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.

For my people {is} foolish, they have not known me; they {are} sottish children, and they have none understanding: they {are} wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

Therefore my people are gone into captivity, because {they have} no knowledge: and their honourable men {are} famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. {honourable...: Heb. glory are men of famine}

Also, {that} the soul {be} without knowledge, {it is} not good; and he that hasteth with {his} feet sinneth.

And even as they did not like to retain God in {their} knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; {to retain: or, to acknowledge} {a reprobate...: or, a mind void of judgment or, an unapproving mind}

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom. {of wisdom: Heb. of heart}

A son honoureth {his} father, and a servant his master: if then I {be} a father, where {is} mine honour? and if I {be} a master, where {is} my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear {you} in pieces, and {there be} none to deliver.

And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

His watchmen {are} blind: they are all ignorant, they {are} all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. {sleeping: or, dreaming, or, talking in their sleep}

Therefore I said, Surely these {are} poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, {nor} the judgment of their God.

For they {are} a nation void of counsel, neither {is there any} understanding in them.

Thine habitation {is} in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD.

And they shall teach my people {the difference} between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

The priests said not, Where {is} the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after {things that} do not profit.

Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, {even} the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity.

Now the sons of Eli {were} sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.

Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against me. {teachers: Heb. interpreters}

They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms {is} in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. {They will...: or, Their doings will not suffer them} {frame: Heb. give}

And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

{And} to speak unto the priests which {were} in the house of the LORD of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?

Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, {and cast you} out of my presence:

They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. {They shall teach: or, Let them teach} {they shall put: or, let them put} {before...: Heb. at thy nose}

And Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaz had sent from Damascus: so Urijah the priest made {it} against king Ahaz came from Damascus.

And Nehemiah, which {is} the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day {is} holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. {the Tirshatha: or, the governor}

The righteousness of thy testimonies {is} everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.

Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips:

When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, {and} set them on fire: for it {is} a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and unto all the elders of Israel.

And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, {and} fall in the land of Egypt; they shall {even} be consumed by the sword {and} by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, {and} an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.

Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity. {caused...: Heb. were for a stumblingblock of iniquity unto, etc}

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

{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. {thy: Heb. the roof of thy}

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

Her prophets {are} light {and} treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.

And honour not his father or his mother, {he shall be free}. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.

And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.